


Creepy Times at the Hotel SiKar

by Foxleggs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Anal Sex, Bottom Loki (Marvel), Bottom Thor (Marvel), Character Death, Dream Sex, Horror, Immortals, M/M, Masturbation, Old Gods, Rimming, Sex Work, Voyeurism, creepy dreams, loosely based on Bad Times at the El Royale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-22 18:11:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxleggs/pseuds/Foxleggs
Summary: Newly-widowed and on the run, Loki checks into a creepy motel where everyone has secrets, some even darker than his own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Minor spoilers for Bad Times at the El Royale but mostly just things that were in the trailer.

A widower. At his age. After being married for all of five minutes.

Loki supposed he should be dressed in black. He would have to settle for jeans filthy with sand and dirt and a grey t-shirt in desperate need of a wash. 

‘Desperate need’ had kinda been the theme of the last few days. The last few years really. The whole ordeal in Vegas had been the culmination of around ten years of terrible decisions. Decisions that always resulted in Loki fleeing terrible danger all alone. 

Loki found himself asking, for the millionth time: what the fuck am I gonna do now? 

He alternated drumming his thumb and his ring finger on the steering wheel. Both fingers bore rings. They were beautiful. Not the cheap crap one would expect for an impulse wedding. Family heirlooms, maybe? That had been one of the reasons that Loki could not bring himself to bury the other ring with his husband. The other reason being that he wanted something to remember him by, to prove that the whole thing had not been some ridiculous fantasy that Loki had cooked up for himself in a desperate time. He had also inherited a car, of course, but that did not feel as personal somehow. 

Loki felt like he had been driving for days. He should have done, really; just kept driving as the hours turned to days, turned to weeks. Maybe when he finally stopped, he would be somewhere where he could start again, not make such a mess of things. But, as the past few weeks had taught him, he was the same old Loki wherever he went, still fucking up and dragging down anyone and everyone in the immediate vicinity. 

He needed to get his head down. Maybe some of the self-pitying bullshit rattling around in there would fall out and he could move on. 

He stopped at the next motel he saw. 

Although he was sure that it was older, the place had a very 70s vibe; like it had peaked in that decade and not bothered updating since. Two rows of five rooms on opposite sides of the parking lot. Then a footpath and a small flight of stairs up to the main lodge. Half of the letters on the neon sign needed replacing; Loki could not tell what the place’s name was, but the sign proclaimed it to be the Hotel Si-Kar. 

Once he had parked up and switched off the engine, Loki checked his reflection. His red, puffy eyes could plausibly be passed off as sleep deprivation. There was still a mark on the bridge of his nose from where he’d been pinching it in frustration earlier. The smear of dirt on his forehead would not budge no matter how he scrubbed at it, so he was just gonna have to make do. In all fairness, there was not much point worrying how he looked when he stank as badly as he did. At least this didn’t look like the kind of place where they gave two shits about that. He grabbed some cash from the glove compartment and got out of the car. 

Upon closer inspection, the name of the dump was Hotel SideKar. Like the cocktail, but with a K instead of a C, presumably for extra klass. 

Beyond that, not much father down the road, Loki could see a sign welcoming him to California. He had driven almost right up to the state line without realising it. His subconscious must have forced him to stop rather than enter California again. He was not even sure if California was still dangerous for him, but his survival instinct was probably his strongest attribute. 

Loki caught movement in the corner of his eye and did his best to look without turning his head. In the end room on his right, a woman watched him from the window. It set him on edge. He told himself that she was just being nosy. Or maybe she just wanted a nice view while she chugged from the enormous bottle of whatever that was in her hand. Loki let it go. 

The only other vehicle in the lot was a tow truck that hopefully didn’t belong to the nosy, day-drinker lady. This clearly was not a popular place. 

SiKar’s interior was nice enough. The retro vibe was still very much present. He could not begin to guess at the point of all the glass beads hanging up in various places. There were also several freestanding fires: big dishes containing a pile of logs with a gentle flame going. Loki was still vaguely uncomfortable around fire, especially pointless ones that were clearly an accident waiting to happen. Off to his right there was a bar (thank fuck), with a dozen or so booths; that was where he would be eating breakfast, then. 

Loki was so busy eyeing up the lobby that he missed the woman stood behind the reception desk. He almost jumped out of his skin when he finally noticed her. 

She looked less than impressed. 

“Need a room?” An accent he did not recognise. It was nice, though. Her voice was somehow very pleasant even as her tone dripped poison. 

There was some awkward shuffling as Loki approached the desk as quickly as he could without running like a lunatic. 

“Yes, please. Is cash okay?” 

She shrugged a single shoulder. “How many nights?” 

That was something that Loki had not considered. He was certainly weary enough to get his head down for several nights. It might be better to keep moving, though; he did not think that anyone would be coming after him, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful. Of course, one night would mean that he would have to be out by a certain time in the morning. 

“Two please.” 

As he handed over the cash, he clocked the woman clocking his double wedding rings. He expected a question. It did not come. She just handed him a key with a room number painted on the oversized keyring. 

“Enjoy your stay.” She deadpanned. Loki couldn’t tell if it was a world-weary service worker thing or if that was just her personality. Whatever, it wasn’t like she owed him any pleasantries. 

As Loki turned to leave, a loud bang made him turn back. 

He could not work out where it had come from at first but then the ‘Staff Only’ door behind the desk rattled in its frame. He looked to the woman, her face gave nothing away. 

“Should you…” Before Loki could finish his question, the banging started up again. He could see the handle turning frantically as the person behind it tried desperately to get out. 

“Topaz!” It was a male voice, frantic and scared rather than angry. “Topaz, please, lemme out! I’ll give you anything!” 

Topaz smiled at Loki. It would have looked apologetic on anyone else. “The boss’s junkie cousin. He’s meant to be detoxing down there.” She looked over her shoulder to shout at the door. “Keep it down, Carlo, that won’t do you any good!” 

Carlo wailed behind the door. 

A detoxing addict was plausible. Loki could probably walk away right now with a clear conscience (about Carlo at least) but he was supposed to be trying to be a better person. 

“Look, I really think…” 

“Of course,” Topaz somehow managed to shout over him without raising her voice in the slightest, “If his screaming and shouting were bothering the guests, I would be forced to call the police.” 

She had him there and they both knew it. Either she had read him completely from the second he walked in, or this was the kind of place where a lot of lowlifes passed through. Whatever was happening to poor Carlo, Loki was not willing to deal with the police in order to save him (so much for being a better person). He reasoned that he could always call in an anonymous tip after he’d left. 

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary. I’d best go find my room.” 

He crawled out of the lobby in miserable defeat. 

His room was the furthest from the main lodge, opposite the day-drinker’s. By a stroke of luck, he had parked his car almost right in front. He made a pitstop to see if there was anything useful. There was the cash in the glove compartment, of course, he made sure to grab that. The only other things he could find were receipts and a half-empty bottle of coke. As much as he was dreading it, he was going to have to look in the trunk. 

The most obvious thing in there was the shovel; Loki did his best not to look at that. Behind that was a duffle bag that he didn’t remember seeing before. He grabbed it and headed for the room. 

When he got there, he realised that the door was very slightly ajar. Peering inside told him that it was just housekeeping. There was a pretty, Asian woman just finishing up on changing his sheets. 

“Hi.” He said, stepping into the room. 

She glanced up, nodded slightly. “Annyeong haseyo.” 

That was Korean, wasn’t it? He really should have learned at least one other language in his shitty little life. 

The maid finished with the bed. She handed Loki some towels from her cart and left. 

He kicked the door shut behind her. 

The first thing he did was find the room’s safe and stash the cash in there. Then he dumped the duffle on the bed to deal with later. He was doing nothing else until he’d had a shower. 

Twenty minutes later, he dripped back into the bedroom. He hoped there were clothes in the bag, otherwise he was going to have to stuff his lovely, clean body back into filthy jeans. 

The first thing he found inside was his wedding photo. Luckily, it was facedown. Taking care not to tilt it enough that he got a glimpse of the other side, Loki took it out and placed it flat on the bedside cabinet. If he started thinking about his husband now, he was going to dissolve into misery; that could wait for later. 

To his enormous relief, the bag contained plenty of clothes. They were all too big for him, of course, but not so much that he would look ridiculous. He selected a t-shirt and some boxers to sleep in tonight. Unlike the bag’s previous owner, Loki was not fond of sleeping naked. 

He took a look at himself in the mirror of the enormous dresser that was fixed to the wall. Somehow, he looked exactly like a piece of shit who’d fucked his whole life up the wall. Thirty-odd years of age and all he had to his name was a newly-inherited car and a bag of shirts. 

Being clean and freshly clothed was not improving Loki’s mood as much as he’d hoped. He settled down into bed and, inevitably, picked up the photo to moon over. 

The tacky Vegas chapel had an impressive mural where they took all of the photos of the happy couple. It depicted an enormous tree with branches going off in various directions, stretching up to the heavens. Loki’s brand-new husband had looked sheepish when he’d asked Loki if they could have their picture taken there; he had assumed that Loki would think it was cheesy. Loki had wanted to quip that, when you were marrying someone you’d known for all of a week, being cheesy was the least of your worries. He’d held back, though, wanting to be uncynical and in the moment just for once. 

Thor had brought that out of him. 

They looked so good together in the photo. Loki wearing his most genuine smile in years and Thor – Thor was impossibly beautiful, no matter what he wore or how unwashed his hair, even that ridiculous moustache had started to grow on Loki in the end. 

That end had come less than a week later. Loki’s fault, as always. 

He put the picture back, standing up this time. He got into bed and tried to settle down to sleep. 

His last conscious thought of the night was that he should have marked where he’d buried Thor in the desert. It would have been nice to have a grave to visit.


	2. Chapter 2

The light pollution didn’t reach this far out into the desert. Loki had a perfect view of the clear night sky. He was on his back for some reason, arms outstretched. Trying to grab something? No, trying to block something. Dirt (sand?) hit his chest, momentarily knocking the wind out of him. He tried to block the next load, but it was no good. He could not cry out either; couldn’t plead with whoever was doing this to him. All he could do was lie on his back and look at the stars as he was buried alive.

Above him, someone grunted. Loki heard the soft crunch of the spade entering the pile of dirt. This time, he got to see who was burying him. Thor appeared at the edge of the hole. Still perfect, still beautiful, even with his face twisted up with rage. He dropped the next spadesful onto his husband. Loki felt no anger, no sense of betrayal. This felt oddly right somehow. He accepted his fate, lying there watching his husband silhouetted against the stars. He would finally know peace. How fitting that Thor would be the one to give it to him. 

Loki drifted into consciousness with a vague feeling of dread (which was how he usually woke, to be fair). It took a few moments for the dream to come back to him. The guilt he felt from Thor’s death had really done a number on his psyche. 

There was no clock in the room, so Loki had to scramble around for his phone: 5 AM. Sunrise was still a good while away. He rolled onto his side to go back to sleep. 

A cough from one of the other rooms disturbed him. Who else was even up at this hour? Which direction had it come from? 

He opened his eyes and listened for further sounds. 

A few seconds later, there was another cough. Loki was certain this time; the sound had come from the wall he was facing. The wall at the back of the building. Was someone out there in the dark? Were the walls really so flimsy that he could hear someone coughing outside? This place was creeping him out. 

It was a good job that he was leaving later today. 

* 

Loki hadn’t thought to ask about breakfast when he checked in, but they were bound to have something to offer. Hopefully, they still served breakfast at 1pm. 

There was no one on the desk so Loki just wandered around until he found someone. He was hoping to find Topaz, as bizarrely sinister as she had been, instead he came face-to-face with the nosy day-drinker. 

“Oh! You trying to check out?” The mouthwash she’d used was almost enough to cover the smell of whiskey. Almost. 

“No, I was wondering about food?” 

“Follow me then.” She lost her balance for a second when she span around. She recovered like a seasoned professional. 

Loki had assumed that she was another guest but he didn’t see why she would be helping him unless she worked there. Maybe the room he had seen her in yesterday was just where she went to drink. 

She directed him into a booth. The only other person in the room was a small, bald man in the opposite booth hunched over coffee. From the way he startled at their approach, he probably should have been drinking decaf. The man continued to twitch the whole time Loki sat waiting for his breakfast. 

Was this guy another guest? Could he have been the early morning skulkerer/cougher? 

The high-functioning alcoholic lady brought him his tea and toast. Then she stopped briefly at the nervous man’s table. 

“Sure you don’t want any food, Carlo?” 

“’m okay, Val.” 

Carlo! Of course! Here he was alive and well; Loki’s conscience could rest easy (he decided not to acknowledge the fact that he’d forgot all about him). The state he was in really added credibility to the whole ‘recovering addict’ thing. Loki was just thinking of something appropriate to say when Carlo spoke up. 

“You get here last night?” He remained staring into his coffee, both hands wrapped around the mug for warmth. 

“Yes.” 

“When are you leaving?” 

“Later today.” 

“Good.” 

Loki could not work out if he was being insulted. Luckily, Carlo elaborated. 

“This isn’t the kind of place you want to stay for more than a night, if even that.” 

Topaz’s words came back to Loki then. “Aren’t you related to the boss?” 

The mug jerked in Carlo’s hands sending a splash of coffee over the rim and onto the table. He steadied himself before he could do anymore damage. He took a long drink. 

“Did you meet him?” 

“No. Topaz told me that.” 

Carlo smiled at something. “If you’ve only met her then you might still have a chance. Get out of here before you meet him.” 

Before Loki could enquire further, Val came back. She scowled at Carlo’s mess. 

“There’s a whole of napkins in the middle of your table; you could have sorted that yourself instead of waiting for me.” 

Carlo shrugged. He drained his coffee and scuttled off. 

Val’s scowl remained as she cleaned up the table. Loki caught her attention with a gesture. 

“Is he all right?” 

“As all right as he ever is.” 

Loki usually hated appearing nosy but his curiosity was getting the better of him here. 

“Does he work here?” 

Val - apparently resigning herself to the fact that they were going to have an actual conversation - plonked herself down in Carlo’s vacated seat. 

“He did at one point, now he just hangs around getting in everyone’s way. He’s supposedly related to the boss, but I think it’s just that they’ve known each other for a long time. From what I gather, he’s on his last chance with the boss man.” 

Loki wondered if Val was actually drunk or if she just didn’t get to chat much. Might as well keep it up. 

“How many of you are there working here?” 

“Well, there’s me, obviously; you probably met Topaz; Bruce comes by whenever something needs fixing, he’s the only one of us who doesn’t live here.” 

“Wait, you live here?” 

“Yeah, it’s cheap and it never gets busy enough to be a problem. I’m in room ten with my girl, Helen, she’s in charge of housekeeping.” 

That presumably was the woman who’d been in his room last night. So, she and Val were an item? They made for a very attractive couple. 

“How long you been together?” 

Val’s smile was sad. “Depends what you mean by ‘together’; I’m not always even sure we’re ‘together’ now.” 

Loki nodded sympathetically – he’d definitely had relationships like that. There was usually only one reason for that. 

“She hung up on an ex? Hoping they’ll come back?” 

Val’s eyebrows shot up. “That is spookily accurate. Except he’s not an ex. I’m pretty sure she never even slept with him. I did a bunch of times, but I never worshipped him the way she did.” 

That… was a lot to hear from a stranger. Especially less than an hour after waking up. It must have showed on Loki’s face because Val laughed at him. He found himself blushing, feeling like an utter prude. 

Val got to her feet. “Yeah, I overshare. Stopped going to AA, had to fill the void somehow.” 

With that, she was gone. 

Something besides Val’s oversharing had made Loki uneasy, but he could not quite put his finger on what. 

Then it hit him. Helen. 

~ 

“Helen?” He wasn’t sure why he was bothering to clarify her name, it wasn’t like he was gonna send her a thank you card if she didn’t kill him. 

She scowled, towering over Loki in her ridiculously dramatic heels. Seeing as Loki was in a chair with a huge man gripping his shoulders to keep him in place, she would have towered over him anyway. 

“Hela,” She corrected. “H-E-L-A. Asgard is mine, been in my family for ever. My pathetic excuse for a sibling was running the place until he pissed off to California to find himself. So, you see, cheating in my casino is not just an insult to me, but to my family’s legacy.” 

Counting cards. Fucking idiot. He might have got away with it, if only he hadn’t had a couple of lucky wins on roulette earlier in the night. That had brought him to their attention so, by the time he actually started cheating, he was screwed. It was typical of Loki’s luck, really; every good thing that happened to him was just a set up for something awful. 

“So,” Hela addressed the room. “What happens to filthy little cheats?” 

Her henchmen gave no answers. Besides the rotund redhead who was holding him down, there was a blond guy with a Van Dyke and a permanent smirk and a grim man who was apparently trying to set fire to Loki with his glare. None of them had spoken a word since they’d apprehended him in the lobby. Presumably they were just there for Hela to talk at. 

And talk she did. Frankly, Loki was getting impatient for his vicious beating. 

“Now, we know that you were counting cards, but what’s really interesting to me is how you managed to fix the roulette wheel.” 

Loki rolled his eyes. “I didn’t; that’s impossible.” 

Hela’s smile shared a certain quality with that of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. 

“Impossible for a normal person, yes. So, how did you manage it?” 

Loki had no idea what he was being accused of: being a savant? Concocting a complicated heist with a team? 

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” 

From the corner of his eye, Loki saw Blond Van Dyke guy put his finger up to his ear. The smirk fell off his face so dramatically it was almost funny. He stepped forward and whispered something to Hela. Whatever it was did not make her happy. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Do I really have to deal with that now?” 

The single lightbulb hanging above them went out for moment, then flickered back on. Hela glared at it. 

“Looks like I’m dealing with it now.” She took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “Fandral, Hogun: with me. Volstagg: keep him here.” 

And so, three of the people keeping Loki prisoner left, dramatically improving his odds. 

Maybe not that dramatically. Volstagg was what Loki’s favourite foster mom would refer to as a ‘massive fucker’; Loki hoped he was a stupid one too. 

At a loss for anything else to do, Loki opted for small talk. 

“Tell me about yourself, Volstagg.” 

The fingers digging into his shoulders fidgeted, but that was the only response. 

“Wife? Kids?” 

“Once.” It was so quiet Loki almost missed it. 

“What happened?” 

The hands left Loki’s shoulders. He straightened out his spine. 

“She didn’t like the company I was keeping. She took the kids in the middle of the night.” 

“That must have been hard.” Loki cringed at himself, he sounded like a therapist. 

“It was for the best that they left, really.” 

“Why?” 

“If they’d stayed, Hela would’ve killed them.” 

~ 

The reminder of Hela had Loki desperate for some news. The stupid motel had no Wi-Fi, nor was there a TV in his room, so he ended up in his car scrolling through radio stations. 

It was five frustrating minutes before he came across what sounded like a weather report. 

“So, to sum up: clear, blue skies for the rest of the week. Back to you, Ron.” 

“Thanks, Mel. Now, a reminder of our top story: Las Vegas police still have no answers as to what caused the destruction of Hotel Asgard earlier this week. Emergency services are still searching the rubble for any remaining survivors. The proprietors are still missing, Hela Odinsdottir and-” 

Loki snapped the radio off. They hadn’t mentioned a death toll – did that mean there wasn’t one? The hotel had been evacuated, maybe everyone had got out in time? Maybe Loki was just trying to ease his conscience yet again. 

He needed to either drive somewhere or get out of the car before he started looking suspicious. There was still nowhere to go. He had never actually got round to making any plans yesterday. Really, the best thing would be to stay here again tonight, he had already paid, after all. 

Back in his room, he found himself staring at his wedding photo yet again. 

They hadn’t done so badly, had they? If he focused on everything except the ending, it was Loki’s most successful relationship by a wide margin. They’d clicked in a way that must be rare. Thor was handsome, fun and seemed to be besotted with Loki from that very first night. 

That first night… 

Still dripping from the shower, Thor had shoved Loki onto the bed and climbed aboard. He’d stared down at Loki for an almost uncomfortably long time. Loki wasn’t sure if it was Thor’s way of building anticipation or if he’d genuinely been that taken with the sight of him. Then he’d leant down to whisper in Loki’s ear how fucking gorgeous he was. Next, he’d kissed Loki’s jaw, then neck, then down to his chest. 

Fuck. Loki was squirming in his jeans. Would it be inappropriate? Morbid, even? 

Fuck it. 

Loki undid his jeans. 

Thor’s mouth on him, at last, after carefully working his way down. How he’d peered up at Loki in what looked like adoration, maybe even worship. Taking him all the way down immediately. It had been an immense struggle for Loki to keep his head up and his eyes open. 

Then Thor had pulled off, giving Loki a minute to come down from near-climax. Then he was straddling him. It occurred to Loki later that he had not seen Thor fetch lube or do anything to prepare himself. Yet, when he sank down onto Loki’s cock, it was perfect. A perfect, silky, wet heat. Loki had been overwhelmed, feeling his soul leave his body. It came crashing back when Thor began to ride him. 

It was quite the sight: those powerful thighs pushing him up, abs clenching. Then there was the look on Thor’s face, like he’d reached Nirvana; head tossed back, eyes closed, mouth hanging open to release the hottest moans Loki had ever heard. He was a thing of beauty; a god in his element. Loki let himself be dragged along for the ride. 

When Thor opened his eyes, Loki could swear that they had turned completely white. Possibly silver, even. They seemed to shine in the darkness. They were normal by the time Thor leant down to kiss him. 

Thor stayed there, gently rocking his hips as he told Loki over and over how beautiful he was, how perfect, how he could not believe that a man like him had just crashed into his world. 

When Loki came, there were tears spilling down his cheeks. 

He kept his eyes closed for as long as he could, wanting to pretend that he was back in Asgard with the love of his life. The motel room ceiling was an ugly, damp reminder of the truth. How had he fallen from Heaven into this mediocre Hell so quickly? 

By being Loki, of course. 

He let himself wallow and congeal for a minute. Then he wiped his face with his clean hand and got up for a shower. 

A dull thud behind him had him stopping dead in his tracks. It had come from the back wall. 

In a flash, Loki remembered the coughs he had heard in the middle of the night. 

Just what was behind that back wall? 

After cleaning himself up, he went to investigate. It was getting dark, so he took his phone. 

Everything appeared normal as he circled the outside of his room. Then he got to the window above his bed. It was not in the right place. He peered inside (making a mental note to close the blinds when he got back in). Everything in the room looked to be in the right place. He leaned back and forth to compare inside and out. 

He took a few steps to the left, to roughly where the back wall of his room would be. The outside wall carried on for about five feet after that. So, there was something there. 

He continued round the back of the building looking for a door. The only one he found had been bricked up some time ago. 

There was a bricked-up room behind his room. And someone had been in there when he’d been masturbating. 

He tried to come up with a less creepy explanation: a racoon had got into the disused room – whatever it was – and knocked something over; it was just a utility room with an entrance that Loki hadn’t found and it was just a coincidence that someone had been in there at that time. 

Both options were perfectly plausible, but Loki found himself unable to sleep until the early hours of the morning. 

As soon as he woke up, he was gonna speed out of this place and never look back.


	3. Chapter 3

For once, Loki’s dreams of Thor were pleasant ones. They were lying on a beach somewhere. Perhaps it was their honeymoon, a proper one this time, not just refusing to leave their Vegas hotel room for a week. Thor was leaning over to stroke Loki’s hair, a picture of contentment. Then someone out in the water screamed.

Loki opened his eyes to darkness. The screaming that had invaded his dream was real. It stopped as suddenly as it started. Loki did not have the chance to figure out where it had come from. 

Fuck this. He was out of there. 

It was maybe ten minutes before he was ready to go. He lost precious time trying to remember the code for the safe. When he finally had his things together, he heard an engine start. It must have been right outside his room. He swore loudly and ran out the door. 

He watched in horror as his car sped away. Instinctively, he ran after it. There was no catching it, of course. He did not even catch a glimpse of the driver. 

When he turned round he almost smacked straight into Topaz. She wore a robe over flannel pyjamas and looked about stressed as he felt. 

“What happened?” She asked. 

“Someone’s just stolen my fucking car! Did you hear the screaming?” 

She shook her head. “I heard an engine at five in the morning and came out to see what was going on.” 

She’d heard the engine, but not the much louder screams? That was definitely bullshit. 

“It’ll be Carlo, he pulls shit like this sometimes.” 

Oh great, so this was a regular occurrence. 

“What the fuck am I supposed to do now?” 

Topaz rubbed at her face. “Try to get some sleep. The boss’ll sort this out in the morning.” 

“How?” 

Her head snapped up. “Look, you can call the police and cause an enormous amount of shit for everyone – yourself included, I’m guessing, or you can sit tight in your room for a few hours. I’m going to bed.” 

She turned and stomped off. 

He hated that she was right. Part of him wanted to get the police out here; he’d take any and all consequences just to fuck Topaz over. There were probably a few hundred good reasons for the police to look into this shithole anyway. 

Loki stayed out in the cold for a few more minutes before admitting defeat. 

He threw his duffle onto the bed and sat facing the door. 

There was no way he was getting back to sleep. 

* 

Loki awoke cursing his weak and feeble body. 

He decided on a shower before confronting the boss. He selected the nicest of Thor’s clothes from the duffle (an oversized blue shirt and some slacks, it was the best he was gonna get). He left the room projecting his best ‘can I talk to the manager’ energy. Someone was gonna feel his rage today. 

When he made it to the main lodge, Topaz was sat at the desk reading. 

“He’s over by the bar.” She called without looking up. 

That took the wind out of Loki’s sails a bit, but he pressed on. 

Over by the bar, the boss was stood with his back to Loki. He was a tall, lithe man with silver-grey hair. He wore a tan suit with quirky boots. He turned when Loki cleared his throat. 

Boss Man whipped off his shades (had he just come in or was that an affectation?) and made a point of climbing Loki’s long body with his eyes. A lascivious smile followed. 

“You must be Loki.” 

Loki gave a slight nod. 

“Come, come, sit, sit.” Boss Man’s arms were so long that he almost reached Loki’s shoulder without moving. He led him over the bar where they each took a seat on a stool. 

“Now, I am so, so sorry about Carlo – families, am I right?” He talked with his hands. They went everywhere during that first sentence, including once or twice to Loki’s knee. “He’s a troubled soul and hey, listen, I want to thank you for not getting the police involved. Carlo’s gonna come straight back with that car, just you wait and see. He’s gonna calm down, realise how silly he’s been and come straight back. Two, three days tops.” 

Loki subtly bounced his knee to rid himself of the man’s long, probing fingers. 

“That’s all well and good, but, what am I supposed to do until then?” 

“Well, of course, from this point on your stay here is free.” 

Topaz’s “What?!” from the other room went ignored. 

“But hey, that’s enough business talk. Why don’t you tell me about yourself? There must be a story behind those rings.” 

Loki looked at his own hand. He’d forgot about his wedding rings and the peculiar sight they made. He curled both hands into fists on the bar. 

“My parents. I’ve worn them ever since their death.” He did not want to share Thor with this man. 

“Ok.” His tone said that he hadn’t bought it. As long as he did not probe further, Loki didn’t care. 

Loki groped around for a subject change. “Why sidekar?” 

Boss Man perked up at the question. “Oh well, back when my daddy opened this place, the sidecar was still a pretty new and happening drink.” He gestured to the wall behind the bar. “That’s him on opening day.” 

Loki had to half-stand and lean on the bar to look. An unnecessary hand came to rest on the small of his back to support him. Loki rolled his eyes but allowed it. 

The black and white photo depicted the SideKar in it’s former… glory. Out front was a man who looked exactly like the man sitting next to him except that photo guy was holding what Loki guessed was a sidecar. The inscription on the bottom of the frame read ‘En Dwi Gast – 1923’. 

“That’s your dad?” 

“Yep.” 

“In 1923?” 

Boss Man’s eyes flicked from Loki to the photo and back again. 

“Oh, silly me, that’s Grandpappy. My daddy would’ve been an itty bitty baby back then.” 

“Uh-huh. What’s En Dwi Gast mean?” 

“That’s Grandpappy’s name, it’s from the old country.” 

“The old country being?” 

The old man shifted in his seat. He finally removed his hand from Loki’s back. “Say, I never told you my name, did I? You can go ahead and call me GM, everyone else does.” 

Loki sat back down. “What’s that stand for?” 

GM blinked a few too many times. “General Manager.” 

A door behind the bar opened. Val emerged. She nodded to Loki. 

“You’re still here?” 

“Val, sweetie, you remember I mentioned that Carlo had stolen a guest’s car last night?” 

Val shot a look at Loki before nodding at GM. 

“Well, that car belonged to poor, dear Loki so he’s going to be staying awhile until we get this sorted out. Anything he wants is on the house, okay?” He slapped his thighs suddenly. “Loki, have you ever tried a sidecar?” 

He shook his head. 

“Val, two sidecars please.” 

Val made no move. “It’s after check-out time.” 

“So?” 

Val turned to Loki. “If Helen doesn’t know that you’re staying for longer, she’s probably gone to clean out your room.” 

Shit. His stuff. The pile of very obviously dodgy money. 

Loki span on the stool and ran. He thought he heard GM having stern words with Val. He’d probably thought his luck was in. That was something that Loki was gonna have to deal with. 

As soon as he exited the main lodge, he could see that the door to his room was open. Fuck. He hoped Helen was honest enough not to take his money but not so honest that she’d call the cops on him. 

He didn’t see her straight away when he entered. She was sat on the far side of his bed, head bent, looking at something. 

“Helen?” 

She leapt about six feet into the air, poor thing. Loki was about to apologise until he saw the item that she was now clutching to her chest: the wedding photo. 

He stormed over to her. “Why do you have that?” 

She turned her face to the floor. She held the photo frame out to him. He snatched it from her, making her flinch. 

It suddenly occurred to him that he was being a piece of shit; frightening a maid half his size, who might not even speak the same language as him. He took a seat on the bed so he was no longer towering over her. Then he ducked his head until they could see each other’s faces. 

“Hey, I’m sorry. I had no right to scare you like that.” 

He wasn’t sure if she could understand him, but she appeared to get the message from his tone. 

She smiled at him. Then pointed to the photo. 

Loki looked at it himself. He touched his fingers lightly to the image of Thor’s cheek. 

“My husband, Thor.” He was dimly aware of Helen sitting down beside him. He carried on. “We met in Vegas, got married in a whirlwind. I was on the run from someone – yet a-fucking-gain – and he saved me.” 

“He saved me.” Helen repeated perfectly. 

He turned to her then. They held each other’s gaze for a beat. Then Helen nodded at the photo. 

“Handsome.” She said. 

Loki laughed. “Yes, extremely handsome and kind and generous and-” A lump formed in his throat. He struggled to breathe around it. “I miss him, Helen.” 

She squeezed his shoulder. She said something to him but his entire knowledge of Korean consisted of knowing one of the words for hello. Still, her tone was reassuring. When he finally managed to look at her, she gave him a big, warm smile. He smiled back through the tears. 

She left him to it. 

As soon as the door closed behind her, Loki flopped down onto the bed. His thoughts went straight to the first time he met Thor. 

~ 

The service elevator. 

He wasn’t sure what his plan was. If he tried to go through the casino, he would surely be spotted. Maybe if he went up to the hotel level, he could find his way to the fire escape. That was the best thing he was likely to come up with for now. 

He was still not entirely sure how he’d escaped from Volstagg. The giant henchman had spilled a couple of stories about his family. Then he’d gone and sat on a chair, apparently in a world of his own. Regrets about his life of crime? Or had Loki worn him down psychologically without even knowing what the fuck he was doing? Either way, Loki had been able to walk out of a room that he was supposed to be carried out of. Overthinking was pointless. 

Loki went to the lowest hotel level that he could, not wanting to have to climb down any longer than necessary. 

It was a nice place, much nicer than anything Loki could afford. He stepped out into an empty corridor. He had the choice of going left or right. He went left. That turned out to be a mistake. 

It took him to another, identical corridor. At the far end he just saw an abundance of black hair disappear around the corner. He gasped, like an idiot. There was an awful, slow-motion moment as Hela stepped backwards. 

Loki fled. He wasn’t sure if Hela had seen him, but he was not gonna stay to find out. 

He pressed the button for the elevator, but it had been called back down, probably because Volstagg was coming after him. He needed to find the stairs. 

He turned two more corners before he saw a sign for the stairs (this place was a fucking labyrinth). He sped up when he saw it, only to trip over his laces and crash into the door of one of the rooms. 

He fell backwards onto his ass, too dazed to do anything about it. 

The door opened just a crack. The face that appeared was absurdly handsome despite an unfortunate 70s moustache. 

They just stared at each other for a moment. Loki could not shake the feeling that the stranger was staring into his soul. The moment was shattered by Hela’s voice. 

“I know he’s here, I saw him!” 

When their eyes met again, the stranger held out a hand to Loki. He took it and let himself be hauled to safety. 

“Thanks, I…” Loki realised that the stranger was completely naked. 

“I was just about to get in the shower.” He said by way of explanation; dragging Loki’s attention back to his face. 

Loki shrugged. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, you probably just saved my life.” 

The second it was out of his mouth someone began to pound on the door. 

Loki held his breath. The stranger shoved him in the direction of the bathroom. Loki went. He hid himself behind the open bathroom door to wait and listen. 

He heard the stranger open the door. As he said a friendly “Hey there!” Hela shrieked “Why are you naked?!” 

“Don’t knock on my door at this time of night if you ain’t ready to see me naked, sister.” 

No one spoke for a moment. Loki began to wonder if Hela had just stabbed him. 

“I’m looking for someone, I think he came this way.” 

“Hmm, yeah it sounded like someone ran past the door a minute ago.” 

“I heard you talking to someone, that’s why I knocked.” 

“Just communing with Mother Earth.” 

Christ, this hippy was going to get Loki killed! 

Hela made a disgusted noise. “This isn’t over.” She hissed. 

Loki heard the door close. Was that it? Was he in the clear? 

The stranger pushed lightly on the bathroom door. Loki backed up to give him space. The stranger was grinning as he entered. 

“She’s gone. We should be all right for now.” 

“Thank you, erm…” 

“Thor.” 

“Thor,” He liked that. “I’m Loki.” 

Thor had the most swoon-worthy smile that Loki had ever seen. 

“What’cha do to get her coming after you?” 

“Counting cards in the casino.” 

Thor raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.” 

Loki shrugged. “Any idiot could do it.” 

“Don’t give me that, you must be real smart.” 

“Not smart enough to not get caught.” 

Thor laughed. Loki couldn’t help but join in. 

Thor reached over to place a single finger under Loki’s chin. “So, like I said, I was about to get in the shower.” 

Loki gaped. If he’d been wearing a monocle, it would have shot off his face. “You work fast, don’t you?” 

Thor shrugged. “I don’t believe in wasting time.” 

~ 

Loki put the wedding photo back in its place. 

Something out the window caught his eye. He went over to look. 

Val and Helen were stood outside their room. They appeared to be arguing. Val was gesticulating wildly as Helen was jabbing a finger in Loki’s direction. Oh. So, whatever this was about, it had to do with him. At first, he thought that Helen was telling Val that he’d yelled at her. But, that did not make sense as Val was clearly annoyed with Helen. He supposed she could be angry that Helen had been caught messing with a guest’s possessions. 

Val placed her head in her hands, shaking it softly. Helen threw her head back in annoyance. She folded her arms and turned to face Loki’s room. She did a double take. 

Loki dropped down out of sight. He didn’t know why he bothered when it was obvious that she’d seen him. Loki’s first instincts were always to run away or hide. He waited a full sixty seconds before poking his head up. They were gone. 

As he made his way back to the bed, it occurred to him to wonder if they had been arguing in English.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is the tiniest bit of Loki/Grandmaster in this chapter.

As shitty as the rest of Hotel SiKar was, the showers could not be faulted. Loki found himself wanting to stay in there for hours.  


It was cold, though. Under the spray, it was wonderfully hot but, if he stepped back too far, his ass froze. When he first got a peculiar tingling sensation in his back, he thought it was just the cold again. Then there was a strange pressure and his muscles grew tense, and Loki recognised it for what it was: the sensation you get when someone is right behind you. He span round, nearly slipping. There was nothing there, of course. Now the front of his body was freezing and he felt like an idiot. He turned back to get on with his shower.  


He could feel something gritty underfoot. He looked down and saw sand. It was running off his body along with dirt, grime and what must have been blood. He reached up and turned the shower off. The mess drained away with the last of the water. He was clean.  


His heart pounded in his chest. His pulse was loud and painful in his head as he tried to think of a rational explanation. He stiffened when he felt something at his back. It was just the lightest pressure right under his neck, then it slid down the length of his spine. He gasped. It was something that Thor liked to do; he would run a finger or just a knuckle all along Loki’s spine after slipping into the shower behind him. It was how he announced his presence. Loki half expected to feel Thor’s arms slip around his waist and his chin come to rest on his shoulder.  


It was the grief, he told himself, the grief and the stress and the guilt. It was all coming together to mess with his head. That was why he’d seen blood and felt fingertips.  


And why he could now hear breathing that wasn’t his own.  


Loki stayed frozen in place as the warm breaths got closer and closer to his ear. Despite his best efforts, he let out a whimper. Then he heard, with perfect clarity, someone shush him.  


“Ssh baby, I’m here.” Thor.  


Loki leapt from the shower, sliding along the bathroom floor. He threw the door open and sprang onto the bed. Some instinct from childhood had him pulling the blankets around him.  


He stayed there soaking his bed and hyperventilating. His eyes refused to leave the bathroom door. Something was going to walk through it at any second, he knew it. A tear slid down his cheek as he struggled to control his breathing.  


He caught sight of himself in the mirror: a grown man reduced to a frightened child. Suddenly, he felt ridiculous. There was nothing in the bathroom except a soaking-wet floor. And the robe that he now regretted not grabbing on the way past.  


His legs were still shaking slightly when he stood up. He checked his naked body in the mirror, just in case he had really seen blood and it had come from him. Nothing. The more time that passed, the easier it was to tell himself that it had all been in his imagination.  


Still, he was in and out of the bathroom to grab the robe in less than two seconds.  


*  


Val was behind the bar watching TV when he made his way over. She didn’t notice him coming until he sat down in front of her.  


“Val?”  


She didn’t startle, it was more like she shook herself out of a daze.  


“Oh, hi. You want some food?”  


“Later. Could I just get a coke or something?”  


She ducked into the fridge to fetch a glass bottle.  


“Any news about my car? GM seemed to think that Carlo would be coming back with it at some point.”  


The coke fizzed over. Val swore under her breath and grabbed a cloth.  


“Don’t know about that. Is not getting the police involved gonna mess up your insurance claim?”  


He wondered how honest to be here, decided on ‘somewhat’. “It’s not technically mine, it’s my husband’s.”  


Val finished with the mess and handed him his coke. “Yeah, Helen said something about that.”  


Loki remembered his question from last night. “Do you speak Korean?”  


Val snorted. “I can barely speak English.”  


“So, Helen does speak English?”  


Val’s face fell. “She… erm…”  


“She can but it’s a secret?”  


Val gave it up. “Yeah, okay. It’s just something she does with the customers. Creepy guys either don’t bother trying to engage her or they say something gross thinking she can’t understand and she knows to get out of there.”  


“Fuck.” Loki felt another stab of guilt for getting angry at Helen the night before.  


Val lingered. Loki got the sense that there was something she wanted to say so he waited her out.  


“She’s a genius, actually.”  


“Yeah?”  


“Yeah, that’s not like a ‘oh, my girlfriend is a genius’ kinda thing, she actually is. Don’t ask me any specifics cuz my memory ain’t shit these days, but she graduated at a crazy young age, went to college, she’d just finished her PhD when we met.”  


“How’d you meet?”  


Her tone shifted. She watched Loki the whole time she spoke. “I lived in a… I guess you’d call it a commune?”  


“A cult?”  


“It wasn’t a cult! We just all lived together, grew our own food, made our own weapons – don’t look at me like that, we had a forge, what else are you supposed to do with a forge? Anyway, one day our leader just turned up with her. See, when I said she’d finished her PhD, that was technically true, in the sense that she’d stopped doing it. I don’t know if it was the pressure or whatever but one day she’d just upped and walked away from it all.”  


“And this leader of yours found her?”  


“He… the way he put it, he collected lost souls. Not like he owned us or anything, just like he drew us to him and then we had someplace to call home. You know that feeling?”  


He shook his head. He knew that feeling exactly but he was keeping it to his damn self.  


Val looked like she expected something from him but he wasn’t sure what. Validation, perhaps. Or just an acknowledgement that he didn’t judge her for being in what was definitely a cult.  


“I’m glad you had that.”  


She seemed satisfied with that. She busied herself with tidying up the bar.  


Loki turned his attention to the television. It was a news broadcast. His brain was just a second too slow in processing that the picture on the screen was of him.  


“…wanted in connection with the destruction of the Hotel Asgard…”  


Loki scrambled to turn it off. When he turned to see if Val had seen, there was no doubt about it. As she approached him, Loki tried his best to think of a convincing lie.  


“Weird,” She started, Loki could barely hear her over the sound of his own heartbeat, “The forecast keeps saying clear skies but it looks miserable out.” She paused for some kind of response.  


The best that Loki could manage was a nod.  


She smiled. “If I’m not too busy later, I might take the truck out, see if Carlo’s ditched your car somewhere.”  


Loki could not fathom why she was doing this for him. “Th… thank you.”  


She nodded and went off to do something else.  


Loki took several deep breaths to calm himself down. As grateful as he was to Val for her discretion, she was far from being his biggest problem.  


If his face was on the news, then Thanos would know that he was alive and he’d have a rough idea of where to find him.  


He needed to get out of this place.  


~  


“We need to get out of here.”  


Loki’s paranoia kicked in. “You want me to leave?”  


Thor peeled his face from Loki’s chest to look him in the eye. “Did you miss the ‘we’ part of that sentence? We’re a team now, Loki, your problems are my problems.”  


It was a ridiculous thing to hear from someone he had met less than a week ago, but it still filled Loki’s soul with warmth. When Thor had hid him from Hela, Loki had expected a thank-you fuck followed by him sneaking out once the heat died down. But Thor had not wanted him to go. Instead, they’d spent the days that followed holed up in Thor’s hotel room fucking on every available surface. Somehow, Thor saw them as having a future.  


“I have an old ranch out in California. We could fix it up…”  


Loki’s groan cut him off. “California isn’t such a great idea for me.”  


“You get in trouble out there too?”  


Loki left a long enough silence that Thor took it as a confirmation.  


“Looo-ki.” He teased gently.  


“Yeah, I know, it’s basically the theme of my life. There are some very unpleasant people out there who think I’m dead and I would like to keep it that way.”  


Thor nestled back down onto Loki’s chest. He gave him a quick squeeze around the ribs. “Tell me about it.”  


Loki wrapped an arm around Thor, the other stayed fidgeting in his own hair. “There’s not a lot to tell: I was young and stupid and got in over my head. I decided that being a drugs runner wasn’t actually such a great career move and that the only way out of it was to steal a shit load of cash from my boss.”  


“How much is a shit load?”  


“Enough that I’ve basically lived off it for the last ten years. If I hadn’t been so scared, I could have done something with it and I’d actually have something to show for my shitty, miserable little lif – ahh!”  


Thor had worked his way up to Loki’s neck and bitten him. He pushed himself up on both arms so that he hung over Loki.  


“Don’t talk about yourself like that, okay? It doesn’t help anything.”  


“It’s true, though.”  


“I will bite every last part of your body if I need to.”  


That had Loki grinning and pulling Thor down into a filthy kiss. Thor was back to being serious by the time he pulled away.  


“I’ve booked us another hotel a couple of miles away.”  


“That’s all well and good, but how do we get out of this one?”  


“Easy, we just walk out of the front door.”  


Loki had to take a second to work out if Thor was joking or not. “Are you crazy?”  


“Yes. Do you trust me?”  


“Yes.” The answer surprised Loki far more than Thor.  


~  


Loki spent the rest of the afternoon hunkered down in a booth trying to come up with a plan.  


It was not definite that Thanos had even seen the broadcast. He had to consider nipping this in the bud by going to the police and explaining that he had nothing to do with what happened to Hotel Asgard. That wasn’t even a complete lie, for a start he couldn’t even say how the fire had started or why the building had collapsed so suddenly. But, there were lots of questions that he could answer, including the most damning one: where Thor was now. So, that ruled out going to the police. The only thing to do was make sure that Thanos did not find him.  


The first thing to sort out was transport. The chances of Val finding his car were not exactly high. Even if she did, she wasn’t necessarily going to find it in a drivable condition. The best thing would be for Loki to track down a used car dealership, pick up something cheap and be on his way.  


His way to where? He could try to outsmart Thanos – make his way to California as Thanos headed for Vegas. But, no, Thanos would most likely stay put and send a minion or several to look for him. Perhaps even Ebony Maw, Loki had surely earned that this time. There was the option of laying low at the SideKar until the heat died down, but that came with its own risks. On top of all that, Loki had to keep reminding himself to be worried about the cops finding him as well.  


Fuck, this was a mess. How could one mistake from his misspent youth haunt the rest of his life? Ten years he’d spent running, never staying in the same place for long, nothing more than a brief fling. Until Thor. Except, that had turned out to be brief in the end. Yet another thing he’d ruined. Maybe the actual answer was to drive out to the desert and join his husband.  


A tray dropped down on his table, the glasses perched on it clattering. Loki looked up to see GM standing over him.  


“Sorry about that! My gal Val’s gone a wandering and I’m not so used to making do on my own. Not busy, are ya?” He slid into the booth without waiting for a response.  


Loki’s eyes ran over everything on the tray: glasses, a cocktail shaker, cognac, orange liqueur, lemon quarters and a little bowl of sugar.  


“What is this?”  


GM picked up the shaker. “Oh, I seem to recall someone asking how to make a sidecar.”  


Loki seemed to recall asking no such thing. He thought about going back to his room but remembered that he was avoiding it. Instead, he just sat there and watched GM’s pointless demonstration.  


“Now, what you want is a healthy amount of cognac in there,” He poured the ingredients into the shaker as he talked, “Plenty of ice in there already, next you want the liqueur…”  


“What measurements are you using?”  


GM paused squeezing lemons into the mixture. “Measurements? Oh, Loki, sweetheart, no, no, no. You’ve got to go with your gut.” He put the top on the shaker. “Think fast!”  


Loki barely caught it.  


“Shake that for me, would ya?” GM was busy emptying the sugar out onto the tray. He took the two glasses and twirled them to get sugar around the rim. He held them up to admire them but he suddenly looked sad. “Oh, we needed orange slices.”  


Loki’s arms were getting tired. “I’m sure it’s fine.”  


GM looked up like he’d forgot all about Loki. He probably had.  


“If you say so. That’s probably enough shaking now.”  


Loki sighed with relief and poured out the drinks. He clinked glasses with GM and took his first sip.  


“Is it supposed to be this strong?”  


GM, who’d watched intently as Loki drank, shrugged. “Why not? We’re having fun, aren’t we?”  


Loki wasn’t so sure about that, but he finished his drink like a good boy. 

Sidecars, it turned out, were one of those drinks that quickly became more palatable the more you consumed. Loki had had three by the time he realised what the GM was after. By five he was actually considering it.  


“Gosh, Loki, you’re ah, you’re gonna have to remind me which room you’re in.”  


Loki shrugged. At some point the number had fallen out of his head. “It’s the one at the end.”  


“Oh, but that’s so very far away, how ever will you manage it on your own?”  


Loki leant back to consider the GM. Now Loki thought about it, he did have a bit of a silver fox thing going on.  


“You’re twice my age.” He gurgled.  


“And then some!”  


Loki barked out a laugh at that. He made up his mind but kept schtum for a beat, let the GM sweat. Then he stumbled gracefully to his feet. GM was instantly at his side, gallantly offering him an arm. Loki took it.  


As GM led him out of the main lodge, he realised the man was pretty much sober.  


“How come you’re not as drunk as me?”  


“Oh, honey, in the unlikely event that you ever make it to my age, you’ll learn how to hold your liquor.”  


Loki didn’t like that but he couldn’t quite say why, so he just followed GM.  


A truck turned into the parking lot, momentarily blinding Loki with its headlights. Once he could see again, he saw that it was Val and she was towing his own car.  


“My car!” Loki shook off the GM and ran over. Val had to stop where she was to avoid hitting him.  


She rolled the window down and leaned out. “Found it!” She beamed down at him, only for her face to change completely when GM caught up with them.  


“What’s this now, Valerie?”  


Loki saw Val fumble. He turned to the GM. “She told me she’d look for my car and she actually found it! Isn’t that amazing?”  


GM kept his eyes square on Val. “And it’s all in working order, is it?”  


Val kept her eyes square on the floor. “No, something’s up with the engine. Thought I’d call Bruce tomorrow, see if he could do anything with it.”  


Loki couldn’t work out why Val was in trouble. Perhaps because she’d gone off to look for the car instead of working her regular shift. Whatever it was, it wasn’t fair. He wrapped his arms around himself and mock-shivered.  


“Gee-emm… it’s freezing out here.” He pouted.  


GM threw one last glare at Val before turning to Loki. “Well, let’s get you inside then.”  


Loki didn’t question the fact that he’d apparently left the light on in his room. His head wasn’t exactly in the right place lately and that morning in particular he’d been creeped out.  


He let GM shut the door and draw the blinds. He checked his face over in the dresser mirror. The bags under his eyes were not doing him any favours, but he was still pretty. He chuckled at his own vanity. He didn’t notice GM approaching until he was right behind him. Loki made to turn around.  


“No, no, stay right where you are.”  


He watched in the mirror as GM reached around to unbutton his shirt. _Thor’s shirt _. GM nuzzled into his neck as Loki ground back against him. The shirt dropped to the floor and Loki was shoved forward. He caught himself on the dresser. The GM ran his hands greedily over Loki’s back before one came to settle on his ass.__  


“Now this, Loki, this is a work of art.” He squeezed for good measure.  


Loki’s eyes fell shut. They sprang open again when he heard a woman gasp behind them.  


Helen’s reflection stared at him in horror. She was holding a new roll of toilet paper. Behind her the bathroom door was open.  


Loki grabbed the shirt from the floor to cover himself as he turned around.  


“What’re you doing in here at this time of night, Helen?” GM asked.  


Helen’s eyes flitted from him to Loki and back again.  


The GM swore under his breath. He said something in Korean – probably repeating the question he had just asked. Loki wasn’t sure if GM didn’t know that Helen could speak English or if this was just for his benefit. He let it go on anyway.  


Helen held up the roll of toilet paper as she answered.  


“Really? Right now?” He said something else in Korean and pointed to the door.  


Helen stayed where she was, staring at the two of them. She was very slightly shaking. Was she scared of GM too?  


“Thor.” She said.  


What Loki had taken to be fear was actually anger. Helen grabbed the wedding photo from the stand and brandished it at them.  


“Thor!” She repeated.  


“What is that?” GM went in for a closer look. “Oh, for the love of…”  


Loki had had enough of this. “Get out, Helen.”  


The look she gave him could have curdled milk. He decided he no longer cared if he got her in trouble.  


“Your girlfriend told me that you can speak English; say whatever the fuck the want to say to me.”  


Her scowl deepened. Loki had probably just got Val into trouble for the second time that night. He was beyond caring about anyone else at the minute.  


Helen held the photo up again. “You’re cheating on Thor!”  


This was getting ridiculous. “I am not cheating on anyone, he’s fucking dead!”  


Helen took a step back. She turned the photo to look at it herself. “How did he die?”  


Loki walked over and gently took the picture from her. “That is none of your fucking business. Now, get out of my room.”  


Helen blinked back tears. She ran from the room.  


GM watched her go. “Well, that was interesting! I believe we were..”  


“You too!” Loki could feel a wall of tears building behind his eyes. “This isn’t fucking happening. Get out.”  


The GM went quietly.  


Loki climbed onto the bed and pulled his knees under him. He looked down at his one and only picture of Thor and he wept.


	5. Chapter 5

Loki was cold. At some point in the night the blankets must have slipped down, leaving most of his naked body exposed to the open air. Except, he had not gone to bed naked.

A damp hand came to rest over Loki’s wildly beating heart. Finally, he opened his eyes. 

Thor - hair wet, clothes gone – hung over him. 

In his confusion, all Loki could think to say was “Why are you wet?” 

Thor smiled down at him, his thumb gently rubbing Loki’s chest. “It’s raining outside, baby, can’t you hear it?” 

It was raining heavily by the sound of it; it was a wonder that Loki had not noticed before. As he was pondering the rain, Thor leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his forehead. Water dripped from his hair, pooling in Loki’s collarbone. 

“This is a dream, isn’t it?” 

Thor nudged his nose with his own. “Of course, baby, I’m not here.” 

Loki closed his eyes. He expected to have to fight back tears but none came. When Thor licked at his lips he opened his mouth for a deep kiss. 

Thor moved on to his neck, whispering the whole time. “Ssh, that’s it; enjoy yourself; it’s a dream.” 

Loki tried to lose himself to sensation. Admittedly, it was not difficult when Thor was running his hands all over Loki’s torso, his hair still occasionally dripping onto his skin. 

With one huge hand on each thigh, Thor forced Loki’s legs apart to settle down between them. He nuzzled his face against Loki’s belly, causing him to squirm beneath him. 

“Fuck, baby, I’ve missed your skin.” He punctuated the comment with one long lick along Loki’s cock. 

Loki bucked up, wanting more but Thor pushed himself up to his knees. He grinned down at Loki before hooking an arm under his knee to flip him over onto his belly. 

Loki groaned, spreading his legs wide for Thor. When Thor took hold of his thighs again, Loki tried to force them shut just to feel the strength in Thor’s hands as he held them apart. Next, Thor laid a series of gentle kisses against Loki’s tailbone as he kneaded his ass cheeks. He held Loki’s cheeks apart and dived in. 

Loki yelped at the stab of pleasure that went through him with the first jab of Thor’s tongue. He scrabbled for purchase in the mess of sheets as Thor’s tongue swirled around his hole. He lifted his hips to shove his ass back against Thor’s face. That earned him a hum of approval. 

Thor’s arms snaked under Loki’s hips and rested on the small of his back, holding him suspended in the air as his talented tongue continued. 

Loki reached down to touch himself. When Thor didn’t stop him, he began to really work his cock, thrusting forward into his own hand and backwards on to Thor’s tongue. 

“Oh, ah, Thor… god, I’m…Thor!” 

Just like that, Thor dropped him. He landed awkwardly on his arm. 

“Bastard!” He hissed. 

Thor brought his hand down with a smack against Loki’s ass. Loki’s hips jerked forward and he almost came. He put his head down and tried to catch his breath before whatever Thor had planned next. 

It turned out that his plan involved pulling Loki up onto all fours. He slid inside him with dream-like ease. _Dream logic _, Loki thought. Then he ceased being able to think at all.__

__He shoved a pillow out of the way in order to grip the edge of the mattress. As Thor began to rock into him, his head bent at an awkward angle against the headboard. He couldn’t risk moving, though, not with the delicious angle that Thor had found._ _

__Thor took hold of his hips and pounded into him. “Fuck! Have you missed me, baby?”_ _

__When Loki didn’t answer he scratched the tops of his thighs hard enough to draw blood. “Tell me you missed me!”_ _

__The blood rushed to Loki’s head. “Yes, I missed you!” He let out a sob. “Miss you so fucking much. Best thing that ever happened to me and I…”_ _

__Thor yanked him up so they were both on their knees. He held him close. “Don’t cry, baby. Ssh, I’m here. Everything’s gonna be okay.”_ _

__The tears didn’t stop, no matter how many times Thor kissed them away._ _

__Loki leaned forward to grip the headboard. Thor kept one arm around Loki’s sweaty chest as the other hand slid down to his cock._ _

__Loki felt everything so keenly: Thor pistoning in and out of him; the nails digging into his chest; the hand tight around his cock. He let the tears flow freely as he came._ _

__Thor came a few seconds later, sinking his teeth into Loki’s shoulder. Then he soothed it with kisses._ _

__“Where are you, baby?”_ _

__Loki looked at him, confused. “I’m right here.”_ _

__Thor chuckled. “Where’s right here?”_ _

__“The Sidekar?”_ _

__Thor grinned. He kissed Loki one last time. “Sweet dreams, baby.”_ _

__*_ _

__Loki opened his eyes. How the fuck could his subconscious be so cruel? He could hear actual rain outside, which explained that part of the dream. The rest must have been guilt._ _

__He could feel how puffy and red his eyes were from crying long into the night. When he had finally fallen asleep, he had done so in his jeans. Which he had now messed up by having a wet dream in his fucking thirties._ _

__When he made it to the shower, he examined his body. There were nail indentations in his chest, scratches on the tops of his legs and bruises on the inside of his thighs._ _

__Logically, he must have done that to himself in his sleep. He was losing his fucking mind._ _

__~_ _

__He must have lost his mind to trust Thor so implicitly. To be stood right in the reception of a casino in which he had been caught cheating. Just stood right there while Thor checked out at the desk. Honestly, what the fuck was he thinking?_ _

__There was falling for someone, and then there was being an idiot. Loki was pretty sure that he currently belonged in the latter category._ _

__He didn’t help matters by strolling over to where he could peek into the casino. It was busy, even at this time of morning. That was Vegas for you. Loki longed to jump back into the thick of it, maybe have another go on the roulette wheel seeing as he’d won on there honestly last time. That impulse lasted right until he spotted a familiar Van Dyke. Fandral. With Hogun stood right next to him. They saw Loki at the exact same time that he saw them_ _

__Loki looked over his shoulder for Thor. He was just saying goodbye to the woman on reception. When he looked back, Fandral and Hogun were making their way towards him._ _

__No telling who would reach him first, either one would bring some form of disaster. Loki made for the front door._ _

__He had almost made it when a hand caught his arm and span him round. He came face to face with Fandral and Hogun, just as Thor was walking up._ _

__“All finished!” He called._ _

__Hela’s goons stumbled backwards. Thor put his arm around Loki’s shoulders._ _

__“Fan, Hogun, kindly inform my sister that I’ve left Asgard.”_ _

__He started to walk away, pulling Loki with him. Fandral stepped in front of them._ _

__“You know she’ll come after you.”_ _

__Thor’s smile was the warmest that Loki had ever seen it. “Tell her to fucking try it.”_ _

__Loki - pulse racing and feeling like he could puke – managed to keep quiet until they were in the taxi._ _

__“Hela’s your sister?”_ _

__Thor nodded. “I think it’s fair to call us ‘estranged’ but, yeah. You got any siblings?”_ _

__Loki did not want to have this conversation right now but at least it would get it out of the way._ _

__“Foster child. They found me in a burning building.”_ _

__“Your parents died?”_ _

__Loki steeled himself. “They found no one else in there, alive or dead. No one ever came forward to claim me as their own.”_ _

__Thor slid his hand into Loki’s. He used the other hand to wipe his face._ _

__Loki was desperately searching for a way to lighten the mood when something occurred to him._ _

__“Hang on, do you co-own Asgard?”_ _

__Thor’s eyes were still wet, but he managed a chuckle at that. “Oh, I’m rich as fuck, baby, you don’t gotta worry about a thing.”_ _

__Loki returned his smile. “So, where are we going?”_ _

__“Booked us a week at the only place fancier and more overpriced than Asgard. In the honeymoon suite.”_ _

__“You want to pretend we’re on honeymoon?”_ _

__Thor squeezed Loki’s hand. “No, I don’t.”_ _

__Loki opened his mouth but nothing came out._ _

__“Come on, Loki, it’s Vegas. What else do people come here for?”_ _

__“You…” When Loki looked into Thor’s eyes, they were full of hope; the fool was actually serious. “What are you doing, Thor?”_ _

__Thor shrugged. “Claiming you as my own?”_ _

__Loki’s mouth dropped open. He tried to speak but the lump forming in his throat would not let him. The only thing he could do to cover the silence was jump on Thor._ _

__Ignoring all the times the driver cleared his throat to remind them he was there, they kissed until the taxi pulled up outside their new hotel._ _

__~_ _

__Loki stepped out of the shower and onto some toilet paper.__

__Aside from stretching down to the floor, the roll in the holder was messy, like someone had unrolled it and rolled it back up again. He remembered that Helen had been doing something with the toilet paper when she’d walked in on him and… ugh, that was something he wasn’t ready to remember yet._ _

__He peeled the wet piece off his foot and threw it vaguely in the direction of the bin. Then he took the roll off the holder to see what he could do about it. The part of it that had reached the floor was ruined; he ripped that off and dropped it in the bowl. He could not work out what Helen had done to it, unless she’d dropped it when she’d heard them come back and had to fix it quickly. It was pretty weird that she’d been in there at that time, anyway. When he turned the roll over, something caught his eye. He had to unfurl more of the toilet paper to see it properly: writing._ _

__Someone – Helen? – had written on several squares of toilet paper. Loki ended up unrolling the whole thing to make sure he hadn’t missed any. In the end, he had three separate squares which read: Don’t trust him; He’s watching; Stay away from the basement._ _

__Besides Loki, the only other man at the hotel was the General Manager; logically, that was who the warning referred to. Loki hadn’t been about to trust him anyway (he’d just been about to fuck him). ‘He’s watching’ – did that mean that there were cameras in the rooms? The GM did seem like a bit of an old perve now he thought about it. As for the basement, had he even seen a basement? Why would he go anywhere near the basement?_ _

__Loki needed to talk to Helen._ _

__He dressed in what turned out to be the last of his clean clothes (he needed to do something about that) and ventured out. He came face to butt with someone bent over the engine of his car. As much as Loki didn’t want to linger in the rain, he needed to know if his car was going to be up to an escape anytime soon._ _

__“Hello?”_ _

__The man jumped. When he turned around he had a hand on his chest like Loki had almost given him a heart attack. He was pretty short, somewhere around middle-aged. His salt and pepper hair was a mess, like he’d repeatedly bunched it in his hands and left it there. His glasses were smudged in a way that looked like it wouldn’t come clean. Loki tried to recall the name that Val had said the night before._ _

__“Are you Bruce?”_ _

__The man nodded. “Yes, um, yes I am.”_ _

__Loki hoped a smile would set him at ease. “I’m Loki, that’s my car. What do you think?”_ _

__Bruce looked the car over. “Oh, it’s very nice.”_ _

__“About the engine.”_ _

__“Oh! Well, there’s not too much wrong there and there’s nothing I can’t fix so just, er, leave it to me.” He ended with a thumbs up._ _

__“Right, well, thanks.” Loki would have left then but he saw Bruce fidgeting._ _

__“Can I just ask you something? How long have you been here?”_ _

__Loki tried to mentally count the days but gave up. “A few days. Why?”_ _

__“It’s just most people only usually stay a night or two. The boss must like you.”_ _

__That was apparently true, but Loki didn’t see how it was any of Bruce’s business._ _

__“I guess.” Loki shrugged and walked away._ _

__As Loki went, Bruce mumbled. “Sometimes it’s worse when the Grandmaster likes you.”_ _

__Loki was halfway to the main lodge when he realised what he’d heard. He considered turning back to ask Bruce what that meant but he needed to focus on finding Helen._ _

__All he found in the main lodge was Val being admonished by the GM again. He was doing it in a furious whisper, so Loki could not make anything out until he was almost upon them._ _

__“The two of you will be out on your asses, and then what will you do? A burnt-out genius and a useless drunk? You’ll be lucky to…”_ _

__Loki cleared his throat._ _

__The GM’s whole body language changed. It was as though Loki could see it happening, starting at his head and travelling all the way down to his feet. He turned, arms spread and grinning._ _

__“Loki! What a fine sight you make in the morning.” He turned enough to include Val. “He’s cute, isn’t he? Cute as Christmas! You have a good night, Loki?”_ _

__Loki shrugged. “Not really.”_ _

__“Well, you could’ve had a great one. You still could, as it happens.”_ _

__Loki directed his question to Val. “Could I get some breakfast?”_ _

__GM clapped one hand on Loki’s shoulder and the other on Val’s. “Oh, my Valerie is going to take great care of you today. As though her job depended on it – her life even!”_ _

__He clapped both of them on the back far too hard. Then he twirled and strolled away._ _

__The second he was gone, Loki leaned in to Val. “Are you okay?”_ _

__“Fine. I can handle him. Go sit down if you want breakfast.”_ _

__It was a good twenty minutes before Val returned with tea and toast. Loki checked her face for signs that she’d been crying but he couldn’t tell. To his surprise, she sat down with him on the opposite side of the booth. He was glad really, there was plenty he needed to talk to her about._ _

__“Have I got you in trouble?”_ _

__Val laughed sadly. “I don’t need anyone else to get me into trouble.”_ _

__She needed bourbon, though, if her breath was anything to go by._ _

__“I heard some of what he was saying; is he really angry enough about not getting laid to fire you both?”_ _

__“That’s only part of it.”_ _

__Loki was already getting frustrated with the lack of answers. “Does GM really stand for Grand Master?”_ _

__That, at least, got a reaction. Val’s eyes doubled in size and she looked around for any potential eavesdroppers. She leant in, dropping her voice to a whisper._ _

__“Eat your breakfast before it starts to look weird.”_ _

__Loki rolled his eyes but did what he was told. The toast was already cold but is was still palatable._ _

__Val fished a flask out of her pocket and took a long drink. Apparently, she was done hiding it. Not that she ever successfully had._ _

__“The name Grandmaster is from back in the day, as in, long before me and Helen showed up. He used to run these bare-knuckle boxing matches down in the basement.”_ _

__The hair on the back of Loki’s neck stood up at the mention of the basement. He wanted to ask about it but thought it best not to interrupt._ _

__“Illegal, obviously. There were deaths and life-changing injuries on more than one occasion. The contest of champions, he called it, and he was the Grandmaster. It made him a shit ton of money. He still has some photos of some of his favourite champions in the basement.”_ _

__Loki couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Where’s the basement?”_ _

__“Through the ‘staff only’ door behind reception and down some steps. Why?”_ _

__He shrugged. “Just in case I wanted to see the photos.”_ _

__Val slammed her flask down. “You don’t go near there. The amount of fucking trouble that would cause would be unbelievable.”_ _

__Loki could not get his head around the fact that Helen had warned him off a place just because it contained some evidence of decades-old illegal fights; there had to be more to it. Val had mentioned some deaths._ _

__“Is someone buried down there?”_ _

__“Jesus fucking Christ, don’t even joke about that!” She said it loudly enough that Loki had to check they hadn’t attracted any attention._ _

__He held his hands up. “Sorry.”_ _

__Val wasn’t looking at him, she was staring at nothing in particular, a thousand miles away._ _

__“He had this champion. They called him the Hulk. Some kid completely messed up on steroids. I’m pretty sure it was the Grandmaster who got him into them in the first place. He was unbeatable, tore people to pieces. Of course, Grandmaster loved him, gave him anything he asked for, until he lost. Some stranger, just drifting through town, said he’d fight the Hulk and win. He placed a huge bet on himself. GM lost a ton of money that day. He cut the Hulk off completely. He found himself broke, no where to live and going through withdrawal to boot.”_ _

__“I don’t know why you’re telling me this story.”_ _

__She smiled sadly. “I think I needed to hear it. Grandmaster’s not just a callous piece of shit, Loki, it goes way beyond that; don’t cross him.”_ _

__Loki forced his tone to be jovial. “Are you telling me to fuck him?”_ _

__Val cringed. “God no, that’d probably make everything worse.”_ _

__Loki polished off his breakfast, mostly for the sake of appearances. There was still something that bothered him, though._ _

__“What happened to the Hulk?”_ _

__For once, Val’s smile was genuine. “The guy who beat him ended up taking care of him. He gave him some cash, got him a job in town. He even invited him to come with him when he went back to California, but Hulk was settled by then.”_ _

__“Nice guy.”_ _

__“The best.”_ _

__The door swung open revealing a now-torrential level of rain. Bruce rushed in, soaked from head to toe. He came over when he spotted them._ _

__“You guys, I can’t work on the car anymore in this rain. I don’t mind hanging round for a while until it stops. Otherwise, I’d need to take it back to the shop.”_ _

__From the corner of his eye, Loki had seen Val hide her flask the second Bruce entered. So, she wasn’t done hiding it from everyone. He watched her get to her feet and place a hand on Bruce’s arm._ _

__“Come hang out in our room for a while; maybe you can cheer Helen up.”_ _

__Loki had been so distracted by Val that he’d forgot that he’d actually been looking for Helen._ _

__“I’d like to see Helen.” He hoped it sounded cheery rather than desperate._ _

__Val and Bruce were both pretty surprised by that._ _

__“She’s actually not feeling well today, I don’t wanna crowd her with too many visitors.” Val turned and led Bruce away._ _

__Loki heard Bruce ask what was wrong on the way out. He could not quite make out Val’s reply but he was sure he heard ‘bad news’._ _

__He sat stewing in the booth for a while, trying not to take Val’s perfectly reasonable desire not to include him too personally. He decided to get out of there before the Grandmaster made another appearance._ _


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: 
> 
> Someone meets a pretty gruesome death in a flashback. I haven't gone into much detail but it's not a pleasant way to go. 
> 
> Dub con warning for the end of the chapter - no actual sex takes place but it's messy.
> 
> Spoilers in the end notes if you want them.

The weather was beyond miserable. There was no way that Bruce was going to be able to look at his car. That meant that Loki was trapped there for at least another night.  


Perhaps he could use the time to come up with a coherent plan for the future. California had always been unlikely, but it was definitely out now that Thanos knew he was alive. He also could not return to anywhere he’d lived before just in case. It would have to be somewhere brand new. That could actually be quite good for him.  


Usually, when he needed to move on, he closed his eyes and stuck his finger on a map. He had not seen a map anywhere at the Sidekar, but he could always ask around.  


Of course, he would not be going anywhere until the freak weather stopped. He looked out of the window to see if it was letting up any.  


There was someone out there in the rain. A tall man with long hair plastered to his head. Face tilted up to the sky, arms spread wide, shirt billowing in the wind. It looked so much like…  


Loki ran through the door and out into the rain. There was no one there. There was no one even near the place. He returned to his room cursing his imagination.  


Everyday that he spent here, he got a little crazier.  


And now his last set of clean clothes were soaked through.  


~  


The gasoline soaked through Loki’s clothes. He was grateful for the tiny bit of protection that the blindfold gave his eyes.  


This was it, he was going to die, at barely twenty-one years old. Why the fuck had he thought that he could steal from Thanos?  


There had been several of them when they had taken him. He had been blindfolded, his wrists bound, his mouth taped shut and shoved into the trunk of some car. Ten minutes of driving later and there was only one person when the trunk opened. That would have evened Loki’s odds dramatically, had that one person not been Proxima Midnight. Save Thanos, there was only one person that Loki feared more.  


“You’re lucky that you’re dealing with me and not Ebony Maw,” She had growled into his ear as she dragged him from the car. “That man is a sick freak.”  


After securing him to a chair and dosing him with gasoline, Proxima had left him alone for a minute. When she returned, she whipped off the tape and blindfold.  


Loki’s eyes darted round, desperately seeking some kind of advantage.  


They were outside. Loki’s best guess was that they were on an abandoned industrial estate. Proxima stood before him holding a lighter and a cell phone. He could see the car that had brought them here some twenty feet away.  


There was nothing to do except try to talk his way out of it. “Proxima…”  


“Save it. Thanos wants your death recorded and sent to him and he wants it now.”  


“If you’d just…”  


The lighter landed square in his lap. The flames consumed him so fast that he barely had time to register it. He screamed and thrashed until he tipped the chair and landed on his side. Pain exploded in his arm.  


But nowhere else.  


Loki watched Proxima turn away and do something on her phone, presumably send the video to Thanos. He was free to ponder why the fuck he wasn’t dying unsupervised.  


His clothes were burning, yet he felt nothing. He sure felt something when he realised that the ropes keeping him bound were also burning. He shook off their tattered remains and rolled away from the chair.  


There was no plan in his head as he approached Proxima. It was hard to think of a plan when you were on fire, even if you were apparently immune to it.  


Proxima must have heard something – the crackle of the fire getting closer maybe – because she suddenly turned around.  


“What the…” She reached into her jacket for a weapon.  


Loki hugged her.  


Her screams turned Loki’s stomach, but he did not let go. He held tight even as they crashed to the floor and rolled. By the time they were done, the fire had gone out and Proxima Midnight was dead.  


Her corpse was unrecognisable. She had been very tall and broad for a woman. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that someone could mistake her body for his. It would not fool a pathologist or anyone else who actually examined the body, but someone who was already expecting to find his corpse would most likely buy it.  


Loki retrieved Proxima’s phone from where it had fallen on the floor. He found the keys to the car still in the ignition.  


He drove off mostly naked and entirely freaked out. Why had that not killed him? Some peculiar quirk of nature? Was he the next step in human evolution? He needed to do some serious thinking.  


First things first, he needed to find some clothes.  


~  


All of Loki’s dirty clothes were in one big pile on the bed. The only clean thing he had left were the boxers that he now wore under his robe. He considered his options: the Sidekar offered no dry-cleaning service; he had no idea where the nearest laundromat was; he could either just keep recycling everything until it was utterly rancid or attempt to wash them all in the shower.  


Presumably, there were utilities on site for the towels and bedclothes. Plus, most of the staff lived here, they had to be washing their clothes somehow. Maybe he could ask them for help.  


There was a dull thud, followed by some scratching sounds. Then a key was being turned in the lock. Loki wrapped the robe tighter around himself as Val stumbled into the room.  


He thought he’d seen her drunk before, but this was something else. He watched as she fell backwards on the closing door. She yelped when it slammed behind her.  


“Val?”  


She held up a key and jangled it. “Skeleton key!” She squealed, before tossing it away.  


“Valerie?”  


She scrunched her face up. “That’s not my name, you know. That’s just what gran maestro thinks it is.”  


“Val, you’re soaking wet.”  


She looked down at her t-shirt. It was now translucent and sticking to her skin.  


“Yeah,” She said ponderously. “I think it’s been raining.”  


She peeled the t-shirt off and unbuttoned her shorts.  


“Jesus!” Loki grabbed one of Thor’s shirts from the pile and wrapped it over her shoulders.  


She slipped her arms into the shirt as she stepped out of her shorts. She held her arms up until the cuffs fell down to her elbows. Then she laughed like that was the funniest thing she’s ever seen.  


“Thor’s!” She declared.  


Loki tried to remember if he’d ever mentioned to her about wearing his husband’s clothes.  


“How do you know it’s Thor’s?”  


Val shrugged, still playing with the cuffs. “Too big for you.”  


He supposed that was a reasonable guess.  


She turned her attentions to him, closing the distance between them. She placed a hand on his side.  


“You’re more sort of lean, aren’t you? The muscles are there but they’re compact.”  


She fell against him, burying her head in his chest. He put his arms around her to steady her.  


“Right, just let me get some clothes on and I’ll take you back to Helen.”  


Val blew a raspberry on his chest. “Sick of Helen. Could’ve left this place years ago if not for her.” She affected a higher-pitched voice that Loki guessed was meant to be Helen. “He’ll come for us! We just need to have faith! At least she knows that’s bullshit now.”  


She fell back a little, then stretched up to put her arms around Loki’s neck. She swayed.  


“Dance with me.”  


“We need to get you sobered up.”  


“Thor liked to dance.”  


Loki was so thrown by that he put up no defence when Val pushed him onto the bed and straddled him. She turned her head as she slipped Thor’s shirt off her shoulders. Loki pushed himself up onto his elbows to see what she was looking at. She had locked eyes with her own reflection in the mirror.  


When she turned back, her eyes were downcast. It reminded Loki of when she’d been in trouble with the Grandmaster the previous night.  


“Val I…”  


“If you don’t like girls, just say so and I’ll go.” When she looked up, Loki could swear she looked hopeful.  


“I like girls just fine, but this is…”  


She leant down to kiss him, grinding her hips against him.  


Loki felt like he was missing something pretty fucking important here. He dodged Val’s kiss as best he could but couldn’t stop her grinding without physically throwing her off him. He grabbed her shoulders and shoved her back enough that he could see her face.  


She looked miserable. Nothing like someone seducing someone for fun. She shook out of his grip and attached her lips to his neck. She placed a few half-hearted kisses there before stopping and burying her face. She didn’t move for a full minute. Loki couldn’t work out if she was crying or not. He could feel her eyelashes flutter against him every time she blinked. They felt wet.  


“Have you passed out?” He meant it to lighten the mood. There was a beat, then Val shut her eyes and became a deadweight against him. Her way of getting out of it?  


After a minute, he carefully rolled her over onto his clothes pile. He retrieved Thor’s shirt from the floor to cover her up. Then he went into the bathroom to splash some water on his face.  


He stayed in there trying to get his head around what had just happened. Val had obviously not wanted to do that. She’d mentioned falling out with Helen, so it was plausible that she would try to fuck someone else to get back at her.  


That wasn’t it, though. He was sure that there was something more sinister lurking beneath the surface.  


He thought back to what the Grandmaster had said in the lodge, that Val was going to take ‘good care’ of Loki or lose her job. So, he’d sent Val to sleep with him? Why?  


When it finally came to him, Loki heaved. He rushed to the toilet but nothing came out. He ripped off a piece of toilet paper to wipe his mouth anyway. It was from the roll that Helen had used to warn him.  


_He watches ___

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Spoilers*
> 
> Someone is burned to death. 
> 
> A drunk Val attempts to seduce Loki even though it's clear that neither of them want that.


	7. Chapter 7

Val was gone when Loki woke up. He’d been expecting that. What he hadn’t been expecting was that she would take all his dirty clothes. There was a note on the nightstand saying that she’d have them all washed and back to him in no time. He supposed that was her way of apologising. Not that he needed her to; whatever the fuck last night was, it wasn’t Val’s fault.  


Loki had spent an uncomfortable night wedged up at the top half of his bed whilst Val was passed out on the bottom half. He was still certain that she’d faked her initial unconsciousness but, by the time he’d returned from the bathroom, she’d genuinely been asleep.  


Before all that nonsense, Loki had been meaning to go find out if Bruce had managed to fix his car. As far as he was aware, the rain had been non-stop since the previous morning, so Bruce might not have had the chance. He could go and see for himself once Val came back with his clothes.  


An hour passed. Loki had showered and shaved, now he was sat on the bed in a bathrobe. He needed to make a choice between waiting indefinitely or trying to do something about it.  


His first idea was to check that he hadn’t missed any clothes in the back of the car. Really, he should check the car anyway, see what condition Carlo had left it in.  


He put his shoes on and stuck his head out of the door. Not only was it still raining, but the wind had seriously picked up; this had all the makings of a storm. At least he was parked right in front of the room. He dashed straight out and opened the trunk. It was immediately obvious that no clothes had been left behind; the trunk was pristine, much cleaner than Loki had left it. Even the shovel had been cleaned. He slammed it shut and ran back into his room.  


What the hell was he to take from that exactly? Could Bruce have cleaned the car after fixing it? Had Val done it? He tried to calm down, telling himself over and over that there was a non-sinister explanation, not only for the car but for everything that had happened. That, of course, was bullshit.  


Loki had been pacing the room this entire time. He came to a stop when he trod on something. He looked down to see the skeleton key that Val had tossed the previous night. Suddenly, Loki had a way of getting answers.  


It wasn’t ideal to run around in the middle of a storm playing detective in his bathrobe, but he was sick of not knowing what was going on.  


His first port of call was Val and Helen’s room. He made a mad dash across the parking lot to knock on their door. When there was no answer, he peered in through the window. Not much to see beyond a bit of mess. Weirdly, there was a thick blanket hung over the mirror on the dresser. Loki briefly considered letting himself in to snoop around but he didn’t think he’d find anything helpful and it felt like a real shitty thing to do.  


On his sprint to the main lodge, Loki passed a car that he hadn’t seen before. It had definitely not been there yesterday, so it was unlikely that it was Bruce’s. The motel must have finally got another resident.  


The reception area was empty but Loki could hear Topaz talking to someone over by the bar. He headed straight for the door marked ‘Staff Only’. The skeleton key worked.  


There were now three ways that Loki could go. Right in front of him was a door marked ‘Basement’, exactly where he had been warned not to go. There was also a dark corridor on either side of him. He decided to save the basement for last. He turned left.  


He had to go down a small flight of stairs and then turn left again. He came to a long corridor with several windows on the left-hand side. Judging from the amount of light coming through, they were not windows to the outside. Loki walked over to the first one.  


It was immediately obvious what he was seeing: he was looking into one of the rooms. It was bigger and nicer than his own. Unoccupied, as most of them were but if it hadn’t been, Loki would have had a clear view of whoever was inside.  


He stepped back and tried to figure out where exactly he was. If he was on the left-hand side of the motel, then this was the side where Loki’s own room was. He turned and ran down to the far end of the corridor, where his room would be.  


Sure enough, in the final window, there was his room. He could see his own unmade bed and the wedding photo on the nightstand.  


This was what Helen had meant by _He watches _. There were no cameras, it was far more intimate than that. The Grandmaster must have been stood right here when Val attempted to seduce him. The fucking pervert. Loki mentally ran through a list of everything he’d done in the room since he arrived: he’d been naked plenty of times, masturbated at least once that he could remember, and, of course, there were all the times that he’d cried for Thor.  
__

__Loki pictured himself driving his suspiciously clean shovel through the Grandmaster’s skull.  
_ _

__He trudged back up the secret pervert tunnel. Movement behind the first window caught his eye.  
_ _

__Helen was in there smoothing down the bedding. A man walked through the open door and looked around. He must have been the new resident.  
_ _

__Loki knew that it was wrong to watch them, but he found it impossible to look away.  
_ _

__He watched as the man tried to make idle chitchat with Helen (was there something odd about his mouth?) as he set his bags down in the corner and took off his outer garments. Finally, he came over to the mirror to inspect his appearance. He smoothed his hair, looked up his nose and then opened his mouth wide.  
_ _

__Loki’s hands flew up to his own mouth. He struggled for breath and his eyes pricked with tears.  
_ _

__The man’s mouth was full of black teeth. Not rotten, but expensive custom veneers that a psychopath had had made to further his own legend. Despite having never laid eyes on him before, Loki knew exactly who this was.  
_ _

__The man stood less than a foot away from Loki, separated only by glass, was Ebony Maw, chief enforcer of Thanos.  
_ _

__~  
_ _

__As the days passed on their honeymoon, Loki worried less and less about Hela coming after them. It seemed that, for once, Loki’s luck had held out. It couldn’t last, of course.  
_ _

__Thor was naked again. He’d been naked for almost the entire time. Loki had only once managed to get clothes on him so they could go eat downstairs in the restaurant. Not that he was complaining. It would be nice if he didn’t answer the door to room service like it, though.  
_ _

__Loki lay on the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to remember if he’d ever before been this happy in his life. The mattress dipped beside him. Loki opened his eyes to see his husband beaming down at him, naked except for his wedding ring. The metal was cool on Loki’s belly when Thor’s hand came to rest there.  
_ _

__“Hey there. I was gonna jump in the shower and it gets pretty lonely in there so…”  
_ _

__Loki’s sweat had started to pool in some pretty gross places, so the offer was appealing on multiple levels. Unfortunately, there was a knock at the door.  
_ _

__Loki pulled the blankets up to his neck. He cringed as Thor went to the door naked – again, it was a wonder they hadn’t been kicked out.  
_ _

__“Sorry to disturb you, sir, but a package was just delivered for you.” The young man handed over a delicate-looking box before rushing away, his face scarlet.  
_ _

__Loki sat up, clapping his hands. “A present! Is it from the hotel?”  
_ _

__Thor shrugged. He took a seat on the bed again and handed Loki the little card from the top of the box.  
_ _

___‘For Thor and his new husband.’ _  
__ _ _

___From the corner of his eye, Loki saw Thor open the box and then immediately shove the lid back on.  
_ _ _

___“What’s wrong?” Loki tried to take the box from him but Thor held it out of reach.  
_ _ _

___“Don’t look.”  
_ _ _

___“Don’t be ridiculous, lemme see.” He snatched the box and peeked inside.  
_ _ _

___There, in a neat little row, were three human eyeballs.  
_ _ _

___Loki could do nothing but stare at them. When Thor took the box back, he continued to stare into the space where they had just been. He didn’t see what Thor did with the box, but his hands were empty when he gripped both of Loki’s arms.  
_ _ _

___“Look at me, it’s fine. Okay? Everything’s gonna be fine.”  
_ _ _

___Loki looked at him but his brain didn’t register the sight. It was busy racing with ways that Thanos could have found him and whose eyes he would have taken just to fuck with him. Probably other people who had been fool enough to steal from him.  
_ _ _

___“Loki? It’s all right. I’m not gonna let her hurt you. It’s about time I put a stop to her.”  
_ _ _

___That was like a bucket of ice water over his brain; his racing thoughts stopped at once. Hela. Loki had taken her for nothing more than some casino boss who had cheaters’ thumbs broken. Apparently, she was much more of a threat than that.  
_ _ _

___“Who…” Loki winced at how tiny and pathetic his voice sounded. “Whose eyes?”  
_ _ _

___Thor’s face was grim. “There’ll be one each from Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun. They were my people before she took them – my good, close friends.”  
_ _ _

___“If they were your friends, why would they go with her?”  
_ _ _

___“She’s… controlling. Let’s leave it at that for now.” Thor stood and went for his suitcase in the corner.  
_ _ _

___Loki got up to look for clothes now that a sexy honeymoon shower was no longer on the cards. He turned to ask Thor if he’d seen his jeans and yelped.  
_ _ _

___Thor stood there brandishing an axe.  
_ _ _

___“What in the ever-loving fuck?”  
_ _ _

___“I made it.” He said, as though that explained anything. “For Hela.”  
_ _ _

___As long as Loki didn’t ask for clarification, he could pretend that it was a weird-ass peace offering between siblings.  
_ _ _

___“It was for when she inevitably threatened what I loved again.”  
_ _ _

___What the fuck had he married into?  
_ _ _

___Loki closed the distance between them, placing placating hands on Thor’s chest.  
_ _ _

___“Let’s just run. We’ll go to California like you said, to the ranch.”  
_ _ _

___“Hela killed two dozen people on that ranch. On her own. In a single afternoon.”  
_ _ _

___Loki stepped back, his hands slipping free. “Who the fuck are you people?”  
_ _ _

___Thor tossed the axe onto the bed, making Loki flinch. But then he wrapped an arm around Loki’s waist, the other came up to cup his neck.  
_ _ _

___“I’m so sorry that you got mixed up in all of this, baby. My family situation is pretty fucked.”  
_ _ _

___“I’m your family now. Forget about Hela; leave her behind and come with me.”  
_ _ _

___“I can’t. I choose to run towards my problems, not away from them.”  
_ _ _

___“That’s what idiots do.”  
_ _ _

___Thor laughed. Any situation could seem less bleak when Thor laughed.  
_ _ _

___“At least tell me that you’ll sleep on it.”  
_ _ _

___“I will, I promise. Storming over there immediately is probably what she’s expecting anyway.”  
_ _ _

___Loki was not reassured but he let his husband kiss him. He let him embrace him and lay him down on the bed.  
_ _ _

___Then he made love to his husband for the last time before he died.  
_ _ _

___~  
_ _ _

___Ebony Maw stared straight at Loki. He couldn’t see him, of course, but it was enough to make Loki’s heart stop. He didn’t dare breath until he turned away.  
_ _ _

___Maw took his phone from his pocket. Loki could see the screen as he opened it. He brought up the same photo of Loki that had been on the news. There went any shred of hope that this was just a coincidence.  
_ _ _

___When Maw showed the picture to Helen, Loki mentally crossed every last one of his digits. Helen tilted her head like she couldn’t understand and then said something that Loki could not lipread. Of course, she was pretending that she couldn’t speak English. Thank fuck. Loki had no idea whether or not she would have sold him out otherwise.  
_ _ _

___Loki stayed until Helen left. He had no idea if he would have been brave enough to intervene if Ebony Maw had tried to hurt her. He liked to think so, but he was happy enough not to find out.  
_ _ _

___Loki drifted back up the corridor. He knew he should be thinking of a plan but his brain was currently mush. When he came back to the basement door his only coherent thought was ‘why not?’.  
_ _ _

___It was unlocked. From the top of the stairs Loki could hear what sounded like a dryer. Not particularly sinister, but it did mean that someone was down there. Hopefully, it was Val. She was the only person he trusted in this nightmare place.  
_ _ _

___For the first time in a long time, his luck was in: Val leant against the brick wall rubbing her eyes. For whatever reason, she was still wearing Thor’s shirt over her own clothes. The dryer in front of her was indeed running. They – besides the washing machine and a disgusting mop – were the only things in the tiny room. Why had he been warned away multiple times from such a banal place?  
_ _ _

___“Val?”  
_ _ _

___She startled. Her hand came away from her face and Loki could see the state she was in. Her eyes were red and raw. She looked somewhere between still drunk and horrifically hungover.  
_ _ _

___“Loki, you can’t be here! Did I leave the door open?”  
_ _ _

___He fished the key out of his pocket to show her. “You were gone so long with all my clothes…”  
_ _ _

___Her eyes watered. “Fuck! Sorry, I’m just…” Her voice broke. “I’m such a fuck up, Loki.”  
_ _ _

___He went to pull her into a hug, then thought better of it after their messed-up encounter. Instead, he opened his arms to her so that she could choose for herself. She all but fell into him.  
_ _ _

___He held her through the worst of it, huge racking sobs. Then she pulled away, wrapping Thor’s shirt more firmly around herself.  
_ _ _

___“Sorry.” She said again.  
_ _ _

___“It’s fine, but erm…” He didn’t want her to get upset again, but he needed answers after what he’d seen. “I didn’t come straight down here, I’ve seen the rooms.”  
_ _ _

___Val nodded. “This has been a long time coming; he’s got away with this shit for decades. I’ve been part of it for three years now.”  
_ _ _

___“How did you even get involved?”  
_ _ _

___“Our leader told us about this place; he was here years ago. He said that, in an emergency, this would be a safe place for any of his followers.”  
_ _ _

___“You know this was a cult, right?”  
_ _ _

___Val smiled. “He’d hate to hear you call it that. He was supposed to come to us here, when it was safe.”  
_ _ _

___“But he never turned up?”  
_ _ _

___She nodded. “Which left us homeless, jobless and directionless. Easy prey for the Grandmaster. He gave us jobs to cover our stay here and that was all fine until we realised what he was up to.”  
_ _ _

___“The voyeurism?”  
_ _ _

___Loki could not figure out the look that Val gave him. She hopped up onto the washer; apparently, this was going to be a long story.  
_ _ _

___“He came clean about the mirrors pretty early; he couldn’t pull his usual shit on us because of us being _his _followers. The next best thing for him was to rope us into it. By us, I mostly mean me. He asked me one day if I wanted to make some extra money. I said yes, obviously. He wanted me to pick up a random guy and fuck him in one of the rooms. He’d be watching behind the mirror.”_____  


“Why did you say yes?”  


She shrugged. “It honestly wasn’t a big deal. Me and Helen have always had a pretty open thing and – I already know how you’re gonna react to this so keep it to yourself – in the commune, public sex was a pretty much daily occurrence.” She looked over for Loki’s reaction, expecting it even though she’d warned him.  


He held his hands up, affecting an air of calm whilst his brain screamed SEX CULT!  


“Last night was different, though, wasn’t it?”  


She fiddled with the cuffs of Thor’s shirt again. “He was angry at both of us – Helen for interrupting you two and me for bringing your car back.”  


“What?”  


“He wanted you to stay here long enough for him to at least get to fuck you. He didn’t want you leaving. So, he had reason enough to turf us both out. You heard him yesterday. He was right, too: what the fuck could either of us do?”  


She was quiet again for a minute, still not looking at Loki. “Thank you for not… you know.”  


Loki got close enough to nudge her knee with his hip. “You don’t need to thank me for that. I may not be a good person, but at least I’m not a fucking terrible one.”  


She met his eyes, gave him a warm smile.  


“Is that all he’s up to? Just the voyeurism stuff?”  


She looked away before she nodded. A lie. That was okay for now, Loki had a far more pressing issue to discuss with her.  


“Listen, there’s a problem. For me, I mean, it’s not your problem really. I could use your help, though.”  


“I’m listening.”  


“I did something beyond stupid about a decade ago. I robbed a pretty bigtime gangster. Now his chief enforcer, a man I only know by his terrifying reputation, is booked into a room a few doors down from mine.”  


She thought for a second. “Which room?”  


Loki had to reply that in his head to make sure he’d heard her right. How could that possibly matter?  


“The one nearest to the main lodge on my side. It’s a lot nicer than my room.”  


“That’ll be the honeymoon suite. Yeah, you don’t have to worry about him.”  


Her confidence was too bizarre to be reassuring. “This is serious, Val, that man is a monster.”  


She chuckled at the word. “I know a thing or two about monsters, Loki.”  


Great, so now they were back to the cryptic half-answers. He supposed five minutes of honesty was more than he could really expect from anyone here.  


She continued. “I’m guessing he doesn’t actually know that you’re here, he’s just passing through cuz he saw on the news that you’re in Vegas. So, you keep out of his way for the rest of the day, he’ll be gone in the morning and you can go about your business.”  


He shook his head. “I need to get out of here. Did Bruce fix my car yesterday?”  


She shrugged. “I was in no state yesterday to notice what anyone was doing.”  


“Well, I’ll just have to try it.”  


“And if it doesn’t start? Or it starts but breaks down further down the road? Or if he sees you and gives chase? Let him leave first, then you can drive away in the opposite direction.”  


It was a decent plan, except that she hadn’t proposed a way for Loki to stay hidden all day. It was worth following until he thought of something better, anyway.  


The dryer finished. Val hopped down from the washer to empty it. At least Loki was going to be able to put some proper clothes on at last.  


“Hey, how come you didn’t wash that shirt with the rest of it?”  


Val stopped unloading the dryer in order to look down at Thor’s giant shirt. “It smells like him.”  


“Like Thor?”  


She nodded. “I know you don’t want to talk about it but, how did he die? Was it Hela?”  


What the fuck was this now?  


“How do even know about her?”  


“She came to the commune to see Thor. He was our…”  


“He was your leader.” Loki finished for her.  


Her face was sympathetic. “You might wanna sit down for this story, it’s a long one.”


	8. Chapter 8

Val liked being woken by the sunlight. It was much better than an alarm, or someone screaming in the street. She didn’t make a habit of sleeping outside like a few of the others did – she’d had to sleep rough on occasion and did not like the reminder – but sometimes it was nice in the summer. The last living member of The Valkyries had really settled into her new life.

In a lot of ways, the commune was like being in a gang again without the constant worry of dying or being arrested: you were never lonely; you knew that everyone had your back; plus, all the drinking and partying. 

There had been a bonfire the night before. The usual thing, really: drinking, dancing, a few people fucking. At one point, Thor had announced a wrestling tournament to an almighty cheer. When he’d announced that the prize was to suck his dick there had been an even almightier cheer. Thor had entered the tournament himself – what he planned to do if he won was anyone’s guess. 

Val would have jumped in for a round or two, but she had taken it upon herself to sit with Helen all night. 

Helen had not been there long, but it had quickly become apparent that she tended to fall asleep at parties. She would have a drink or a dance or two with everyone else, then she’d find somewhere to curl up by herself and fall fast asleep. It might have been the single most adorable thing that Val had ever seen. Whenever she sat with the sleeping beauty instead of enjoying the party it was half to keep an eye on her (this was a safe place but old habits died hard) and half just to be near her. 

Val was entirely aware that she was smitten. She was also pretty sure that Helen was not. This was not really the place for long-term relationships; Val had witnessed Volstagg’s wife taking the kids and running not long after she arrived. Still, it didn’t stop her hoping. 

Her hope was rewarded sometimes. Like last night when she had fetched a blanket to cover Helen where she lay. Helen had woken up and pulled Val under the blanket with her. It had been a spectacular night. 

So, where was Helen now? 

Val was very much alone under the blanket. Luckily, she was still partially dressed. Her remaining clothes were all within easy reach. She ventured forth to search for Helen. 

The place was a mess, as it always was after a bonfire. At least someone had had the sense to put out the actual fire this time. Val stepped over a dozen passed out people on her way to the drive. 

There was a car on the drive. Big and shiny with blacked-out windows. A woman climbed out. Long black hair, a sharp suit and heels that wouldn’t last half a day on the ranch. She looked like she meant business. Val thought it best to get to her before she ran into someone less clothed and sober than she. 

“Hi there.” 

The woman lowered her sunglasses just enough to look at her. “Who are you?” 

“Valkyrie.” 

The woman’s upper lip twitched. “That’s cute. Go and fetch my brother for me, would you?” 

So, she was the rich sister of someone who’d joined the commune and had come to get him back. That had happened several times before, Thor always ended up smoothing things over. 

Val’s lack of immediate response must have annoyed the woman. She leant down to Val’s level and spoke to her like a shitty tourist speaking to a local. 

“Tell Thor that Hela is here to see him. I’ll wait here, I’m not setting foot in there,” She gestured at the main house in front of them. “Don’t know what I might see.” 

Thor’s sister? They were like night and day. As much as Val didn’t want it to look like she was following Hela’s order, she was anxious to speak to Thor about this. She left for the big house. 

At this time of morning it was best to head straight to Thor’s bedroom. Surprisingly, he was awake. Even more surprisingly, he was sat on the edge of his bed braiding Helen’s hair. 

Helen, kneeling on the floor, waved at Val when she saw her. Thor was concentrating too much to acknowledge her beyond a quick nod. 

Val felt a tightening in her chest at the sight of them together. It was obvious that nothing sexual had happened between them: Thor was naked (when wasn’t he) but Helen was fully dressed. There were two or three people passed out in Thor’s bed from the night before. Still, it burned Val that Helen had slipped out of their makeshift bed to come straight to Thor. 

Thor finished with Helen’s hair. “There we go! Doesn’t she look pretty, Val?” 

Val didn’t like hearing that either. She really needed sort her shit out, stop being so petty and jealous. 

“Hela’s outside.” 

Thor’s face became the most serious that Val had ever seen it. “Right outside?” 

She nodded. 

Thor got up to go over to the window. 

“Who’s Hela?” Helen asked from the floor. 

“His sister.” 

Helen met Val’s worried expression with an excited one. 

Thor opened the window and leant out. “Good morning, big sister!” 

“Put some fucking clothes on!” Hela’s screech probably woke the whole ranch. 

Helen giggled at that. Val went over to help her up. 

Thor turned to them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. Val did not miss the way that Helen leant into his touch. 

“I don’t want either of you to worry because this might be nothing, but, if something happens with my sister I want you to take the truck and get out of here. Take as many of the others as you can, but do not stay for me.” 

Helen sounded as scared as Val felt. “Where would we go?” 

“There’s a motel just passed the border into Nevada. It’s called the SideKar, I was there years ago. The Grandmaster runs it; he’s bad news but if you tell him that I’ve sent you he’ll put you up for the night. I’ll follow on when I can.” 

Helen nodded. Val wasn’t having it. “Thor, what do you think is gonna happen?” 

“Like I said, it might be nothing. But, with my sister, it’s best to prepare for the worst.” 

Thor rummaged around the room until he found jeans to put on. He went to leave but hesitated. He grabbed Mjolnir, the war hammer that he had made himself. Then he went out to face his sister. 

Helen bumped Val’s side. “What are we gonna do?” 

Val shrugged. “Can’t do anything yet. We’re gonna have to wait and see what happens.” 

On the way out, Helen slipped her hand into hers. 

Outside, Thor opened his arms to Hela. She met him with reluctant air kisses. 

“What the fuck is this place, Thor?” Hela was stood in the midst of fresh air and beautiful scenery, yet she had the face and demeanour of a germaphobe on the subway during flu season. 

Thor ignored her tone, responding in his usual friendly fashion. “I’ve made a little community here, Hela. Everyone free, all equal.” 

She smirked. “Equal? Bullshit, you’ve gathered yourself a handful pathetic humans to worship you as a god. Were the place a little more sanitary, I might even be jealous.” 

He gave her a big, warm smile that came nowhere near meeting his eyes. He turned to Val and Helen. 

“Ladies, I’m gonna show my sister around, see if I can’t change her mind about the place.” 

“We could come with you?” Helen put in. For once, Val was as eager to follow Thor around as she was. 

“Nah, we’ve got plenty of family stuff to discuss. I’m sure you two have some things to sort out as well. Don’t forget what I said now!” 

He led his sister away. She followed in a huff. 

Val and Helen were left alone. That would have been Val’s preference had she not been consumed with worry. 

Helen must have read her face because she squeezed her hand and attempted to distract her. 

“I give her five minutes til she has to take those heels off.” 

Val gave her a polite smile. They carried on in silence for a few minutes. 

“Hey, what do you think Thor meant when he said we’d have things to sort out?” 

Val shrugged despite knowing perfectly well what he’d meant. Thor had taken it upon himself to be her overenthusiastic wingman from the very second Helen had arrived. It was well intentioned, but his help generally consisted of trying to make sure that they were paired up whenever things got ‘lively’ at the ranch. Not the most traditional of starts to a relationship. 

“Look, Hel, I’m gonna head back to my place for weapons. If this does kick off, I wanna be ready.” 

“Okay.” 

Helen made no move to separate herself. Apparently, she was coming with. 

* 

The big house could not accommodate all of them. As the commune had grown people had brought their own trailers and tents. Eventually, Thor had decided that they were going to build sheds for anyone who wanted one. He called them cottages, but they were fucking sheds. Val had been one of the first to have one of her own. 

That was where she and Helen were when everything went to shit. 

The first they heard of any trouble was an awful scream. Val grabbed her sword and rushed out. Helen followed behind unarmed. 

They could see nothing outside the shed so they raced for the bonfire. 

It was like a macabre parody of that morning. There were bodies strewn around all over the place but this time they were covered in blood. There were limbs bent at unnatural angles, one person’s head was facing the wrong way. Something had mown through the site and everyone there in under an hour. 

Val turned to Helen. “Do you remember where Thor keeps his truck?” 

Helen nodded. 

“Run straight there. The keys will be in there somewhere.” 

Helen hesitated. “What about you?” 

“I’m gonna make my way up to the big house. Meet me up there in the truck, okay?” 

Helen hesitated again. “Be careful!” Then she took off. 

Val passed more corpses on her way up to the house. In the drive there was a three-foot smear of blood but no one near it. That either meant a survivor, or Hela dragging someone’s corpse. A little further on, she found the remains of Mjolnir. The head was still intact – and covered with blood – but the handle had been snapped clean in half. 

Hela’s car was still there. Val tried the door on the off chance, but it was locked. If she couldn’t use it then she could at least sabotage Hela’s escape. She crouched down to let the air out of the tyres. She had just finished the second one when she heard the window smash. 

She looked over at the house to see Volstagg writhing on the floor amidst the broken glass. How the fuck had someone thrown a man that size? Hela hopped down from the empty window frame. Her suit was torn in several places, her hair a mess. Val chuckled darkly when she realised that she was carrying her heels. She had always been one for gallows humour. 

As Hela approached Volstagg, she was rushed from either side by Fandral and Hogun. She brought her arms in close, then whipped her shoes at them. They were each hit in the face with enough force to have them stumbling back and dropping their weapons. 

Volstagg staggered to his feet. The three of them surrounded Hela. Hela held her hands up. 

“This is getting tiresome. Would one of you boys be good enough to tell me where Thor is?” 

It was Fandral who answered. “He’s gone to ground, you’ll never find him!” 

Hela rolled her eyes in pantomime fashion. “Oh, that really is a nuisance.” She made a show of looking at the three of them in turn. “You know, you boys have put up quite a fight. I would very much like to employ you.” 

“We would never work for you!” Hogun roared. 

She focused in on him. “Darling, I wasn’t asking.” 

Her knife seemed to come from nowhere, landing in Hogun’s throat. She flung a second one with the same deadly accuracy at Fandral. Volstagg charged at her. Val saw him stop and fall to the ground. 

Val came forward brandishing her sword. “Hela!” 

Hela looked unimpressed. “Oh, it’s you, the little girl who calls herself a Valkyrie. You’ve seen what I can do, how much of a chance do you think you stand?” 

She had zero chance and she knew it. That did not mean that she was backing down. She rushed forward and swung her sword. 

Hela caught it. Then she yanked it out of Val’s grasp. She thrust it forward, smacking the butt of the handle into Val’s forehead. She went down. 

She watched from the ground as Hela tossed her sword in the air to grab it by the handle. She lifted Val’s chin with the tip of the blade. 

“You seemed somewhat important to him…” 

“We all were!” 

Hela carried on as though she had not been interrupted. “Do you know where my brother’s resting place is?” 

She must have read the confusion on Val’s face. “It’ll be a hole in the ground big enough for a man to lie in.” 

Val grinned. “There’s a lot of ground here. That’s if he’s even still on the ranch. You will never find him.” 

Hela raised the sword to strike, then tilted her head as she heard something. Val heard it to: the truck. 

As Hela turned around, Val rolled to the right. The gentle slope of the ground had her tumbling and spinning uncontrollably. It meant that she only got to hear as Hela was mown down. 

When she got to her feet, Helen was gracefully climbing down from the truck. If Val hadn’t already been smitten… 

There was movement in the corner of Val’s eye. Hela was dragging herself from under the truck. 

Val held up a hand to stop Helen coming any closer. When she realised that Hela was getting up, she gestured frantically at Helen. Then she ran for the truck. Helen still hadn’t seen what was going on, but she was smart enough to figure out that she needed to be back in the truck. She was already starting the engine when Val jumped in. 

They moved forward all of a foot before they slammed to a stop. Everything was working, the tyres were spinning over and over in the ground. They were caught on something. 

Val had an idea of what they were going to see as she and Helen turned to look out of the back window. There was Hela, holding the tow truck still by the hook. Her hair was plastered to her face with blood but she was grinning triumphantly. 

Helen turned back and put the truck in reverse. Val was gifted with the sight of Hela realising what was about to happen a second before it did. The whole truck bounced as both pairs of wheels went over Hela. Then Helen turned and sped down the drive. 

Val continued to watch out the back window and report on Hela. She saw her give chase before giving up and going to her car, saw her kick it when she realised the tyres were down. She told Helen all of this, but she kept one thing she saw to herself. 

She never told Helen that she saw Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun get to their feet and shuffle toward Hela like zombies. 

~ 

Loki wished he had sat down. He had anticipated parts of the story – Thor had told him what Hela did at his ranch, but it was still awful to hear from someone who had been there. A thought occurred to him. 

“Is that why you drink?” 

Val stared at him. Then she burst out laughing. Loki had no choice but to join in. 

“Jesus, Loki.” Val wiped a tear from her eye. “I mean, you have a point but still…” 

Loki tried for something more sensitive. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Why do you think Thor never came for you?” 

She shrugged. “I don’t know how long he was in hiding, or how injured he was. Maybe it all took so long that he assumed we’d be long gone. You didn’t answer my question by the way.” 

He raised an eyebrow. 

“Was it Hela who killed him?” 

Loki swallowed. Not trusting himself to speak, he nodded. 

“Where is she now?” 

“She’s dead too, if that makes you feel any better.” 

“Only if it was slow and painful.” 

That, he was less sure about. He shivered, hugging himself. He had dressed while Val told her story, but the basement was still cold. 

As Loki looked around, he remembered that the Grandmaster had supposedly used this tiny room for underground boxing or whatever it was. 

“Val, is this the basement?” 

“Yes?” 

He did another quick scan of the room. “You said he had photos on the wall.” 

“Must’ve taken them down.” She picked up the basket containing Loki’s remaining clothes. “We’d better get out of here. I’ll go first to make sure the coast’s clear.” 

Loki was just following her out when he saw it: a padlock just poking out from under the dryer. 

A trapdoor.


	9. Chapter 9

A storm raged outside. Loki – plastered to Thor’s back – did not care.

They were on their sides in the motel bed, Loki gently rocking himself into his husband. 

Thor had been unusually quiet so far. He seemed content to lie there and be taken care of, the only encouragement he gave Loki was the odd gentle hum of pleasure. His eyes were closed in bliss, a smile on his face as he rocked his hips in time with Loki’s. 

Loki had not questioned when he’d woken to find Thor next to him in bed. If this was another dream that was going to leave him miserable afterwards, so be it. He was determined to enjoy it now, though, so he wrapped his arms around Thor and made tender love to him in near silence. 

Whilst they were nearly silent, their surroundings were not. Loki had tuned out the noise of the storm a while ago, then he’d become aware of the sound of rushing water. It was flooding in from under the door. By now it was almost level with the bed. 

Realising that he did not have long, Loki grasped Thor’s shoulder, buried his face in his neck and sped up. Thor reached back to grab Loki’s ass, spurring him on. 

Water started to seep into the mattress. Loki knew that when the water reached him, he would wake up. He pressed on, driving himself into Thor harder and harder. Thor let go of him in order to touch himself. His groan almost finished Loki. 

The bed rocked, being picked up by the flood waters. Loki lifted his head to Thor’s ear. 

“Are you close? We need to hurry.” 

Thor’s eyes opened, they were white. “Almost there, baby. I’m coming.” 

“Please hurry, I need you.” 

The bed began to drift across the room. They clung to each other. 

“I’m coming baby, I’m nearly there. I’ll be with you soon.” 

A light on Loki’s face. Val’s voice. Hopefully, she hadn’t noticed the way he had been humping the air. 

Loki woke up properly when the flashlight hit his eyes. He screwed them up tight on instinct but not before he saw that the room really was flooded. Not as badly as in his dream, but he still needed to get the fuck out of there. 

Val was stood in the doorway, flashlight in hand, screaming for him to get up. 

“I’m coming!” He managed. When he stood, the water came up to his shins. Luckily, he’d stuffed everything back into the duffle in preparation for a quick getaway. Less luckily, his shoes were floating upside down and he had to put them on soaking wet. Not that it really mattered when he had to walk through the water anyway. 

“What’s happening?” He called to Val as he trudged over to her. 

“Everyone’s gone to the main lodge; it’s higher up, we should be okay in there.” 

Loki stopped dead. “Everyone?” 

“Don’t worry about that now, just come on!” 

He followed her out of the room but then headed for his car. There was no point attempting to drive in this, the water was already up to the bottom of the car door. Ignoring Val shouting after him, Loki went to the trunk and retrieved the shovel. 

There was no way he was facing Ebony Maw unarmed. 

~ 

What the fuck had possessed him to face Hela unarmed? Probably the fact that he didn’t think a weapon would do him any good. He was also holding out hope that – despite all evidence to the contrary – Hela would turn out to be the sane sibling. 

As he entered the casino, he automatically looked for Volstagg and the others. Then he remembered that they were most likely dead. As freaked out as he was by that, at least Hela was operating with a reduced staff. Maybe that would be enough to save his life. 

If he asked to see her, he expected to be turned down. Instead, he opted to hit the casino until she took notice of him. 

A fight broke out at the blackjack table when the dealer dealt out four Jack of hearts in a row, followed by two jokers. Loki wasn’t sure how – or if – he’d caused that but he took it as a win. Next, he won big on roulette and threw all his chips into the fountain. A dozen people dived in after them. There was some kind of fire-eating act on the stage near the bar. Loki briefly considered causing some trouble there but ultimately thought better of it. Finally, he went and took a seat at the bar. 

Five minutes later, his sister-in-law hopped onto the stool next to him. 

“You – temporarily – have my attention, make it good.” 

He turned enough to face her. “Thor means to kill you.” 

She smiled, still not bothering to face him. “I’m aware. Tell me something interesting or get out of my hotel.” 

“I want to help.” 

That was enough for her to turn her head and raise an eyebrow. “How do you intend to do that?” 

“Give me something, an offer I can take back to Thor. A truce. Then we’ll be on our way, everyone saves face and no one has to get hurt.” 

“As touching as that is, there is nothing in it for me.” 

He had anticipated that. He took a deep breath. “What about me? Do you still want me?” 

Hela looked him over, then shrugged. “You’re an ant trying to attract attention from giants. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still skin you alive to pass a rainy afternoon but there are currently much bigger things on my plate.” 

Frustrated and out of options, Loki whined. “He’s your brother.” 

Hela chuckled. “One of us was always going to kill the other. Logically, it would be me killing him.” She turned her whole body and leaned into Loki’s space. “Let me tell you something he won’t like you knowing. Thor is of the Earth, his power comes from there. He may make it rain, he may be able to grow a few trees, but he is no match for me. I hold dominion over death itself.” 

So much for Hela being the sane sibling. Loki frantically groped for something else to say but she went on. 

“This is going to be the single charitable act of my long life, Loki: walk away. You are not worth the effort it would take to come after you; get out of Vegas and leave my idiot brother to his fate.” 

He watched Hela turn back and motion to the bartender for a drink. Dismissed, he got up and left. 

On his way past the stage, the fire-eater’s flame suddenly shot out several feet. The small crowd let out various cries as they dived for cover. Loki stayed a moment to watch. It had looked as though the flame had reached out to him, just for a second. The fire-eater apologised to everyone before carrying on with his set. Loki walked away. 

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts as he stepped outside that he nearly smacked right into Thor. 

Loki was not sure which one of them was more surprised to see the other. The confusion on Thor’s face quickly turned to understanding. 

“You tried to make a deal with Hela. What did she tell you?” 

“That she was Satan or the angel of death or some shit. What the fuck did I marry into?” 

Thor smiled. He leant forward to give Loki a quick kiss. “This ends today, baby, I swear. Then we’ll carve ourselves a normal life.” He pressed a set of keys into Loki’s hand, then pointed out a car across the street. “That’s mine, I’ve just been and got it out of storage. I want you to wait for me. Whatever happens in there, we’ll need to make a hasty exit. If Hela walks out of here instead of me, drive and don’t look back.” 

Why did he expect Loki to be okay with this? He placed a hand on Thor’s cheek. 

“Let’s just get in the car and go.” 

Thor’s smile was sad this time. “I love you, Loki. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can.” 

Loki watched his husband walk away. The axe was very clearly sticking out of the back of his jeans. Some master criminal. Inside the hotel reception, Thor placed his hand over something on the wall that Loki couldn’t see. The fire alarm went off. 

As people began to rush past Loki, he stood there trying to come to a decision. 

He now had a means of escape, and a very good reason to leave. What was keeping him there? 

~ 

Loki hesitated on the steps to the main lodge. Val made no attempt to hide her annoyance. 

“I’m telling you he’s not here.” 

“His car’s still here!” Loki pointed at it with the shovel, still in the same place as yesterday. 

Val rolled her eyes and went inside, leaving Loki standing in the rain. It was, admittedly, an effective way to end an argument. He followed her, hugging his shovel. 

Ebony Maw was not there as far as he could see, but he couldn’t see anyone besides Val. 

“Hide the shovel before GM sees it, would ya?” 

Loki very much did not want to, but it was probably a good idea. As long as he remembered where it was, he could grab it for a surprise attack. He hid it under the first booth that they came to. 

Further inside, Helen and Bruce were sat at another booth. Topaz was behind the bar trying to get the television to work. 

“How come Bruce is here?” Loki asked Val. 

“Oh, he came by a couple of hours ago to do some finishing touches on your car but then the storm got worse.” 

Loki looked around for the big clock on the wall. It was just after midnight. Something wasn’t right there. 

They joined Bruce and Helen in their booth. 

Loki leapt straight into it. “Have either of you seen the other man who’s staying here?” 

Helen shook her head as Bruce said “Who?” 

Val elbowed him. 

Okay, so he wasn’t allowed to ask about that. “Where’s GM?” 

The three of them exchanged looks. It was Helen who spoke. 

“He’s down in the basement.” 

“Isn’t it flooded?” 

Bruce laughed. “It’s floodproof, soundproof, idiot proof. It’s everything-proof.” 

Helen placed a hand on his arm. He mumbled a quiet apology. 

It did not look as though Loki was in for an entertaining night. 

There was a bang behind them and Topaz swore. Loki looked over to see her hitting the television. 

“Bruce, can you do anything with this?” 

Bruce dutifully got up to have a look. 

Val stood too. “I’m gonna look for snacks.” She announced. 

Loki was left on his own with Helen. It was the first time he’d really seen her since he’d screamed at her that his husband was dead. Looking back on how affected she’d been by the news, Loki felt stupid for not realising that she had known him. He shuffled nearer to her. 

“I found your notes.” 

Helen sat up straight, casting a wary eye around the room. 

“Thanks for the warnings, I don’t know that they did me much good but, thank you.” 

A quick, shy smile. “You’re welcome.” 

“Hey and I’m sorry for...” He took a moment to think how to word this. “I’m sorry you had to find out about Thor in that way.” 

Helen shrugged but her face was far from nonchalant. “I wasted years waiting for Thor to come and rescue me, at least now I know that he’s not coming.” 

Loki could not think of anything to say to that. He was almost relieved when the Grandmaster walked in. 

“Oh, hey, everyone’s here! Well, this is a party. Where’s Val? Someone fix some drinks. I’m putting the jukebox on!” 

Grandmaster passed the bar to reach the jukebox. Loki noted how Bruce refused to look at him. He even drew himself in as he walked past. There was obviously history there. Or maybe Bruce was just aware that the Grandmaster ran his own personal pervert hotel. 

Unchained Melody started up and Loki stood to see if anyone was actually fixing drinks. Topaz was glued to the television and Bruce had wandered over to the window. He was gonna have to make his own damn drink. He wondered if a sidecar would make him puke. 

Loki was searching for the cognac when Bruce spoke up from by the window. 

“You guys, someone’s out there.” 

Loki’s blood turned cold. 

“Who is it?” That was Helen’s voice. From the sound of it, everyone apart from Loki was going over to look. 

“I dunno. It’s a man, I think. Looks pretty tall. He’s coming this way.” 

Ebony Maw. Who else would it be? 

While everyone was distracted, Loki slipped past and retrieved his shovel. He went to the front door and peered through the glass panel at the side. 

He wiped the condensation away but it was still nearly impossible to see anything. All he saw was darkness and rain. The floodwater reflected the lights from the lodge, allowing Loki to pick out the odd thing in the darkness. He started to wonder if Bruce hadn’t just imagined it. 

Something rushed past. Loki stumbled backwards, he had to balance with the shovel to stop from falling. The figure had gone by far too quickly for Loki to see who it was. All he saw was a lot of pale skin. 

The doors rattled in the frame, pushed by the wind. Loki felt like he was going to vomit up his own heart. 

His nerve failed him. He couldn’t wait for Ebony Maw to make his way inside; he needed to hide. Anywhere outside of the main lodge was not an option. He needed to be in a room where Maw would not think to look. 

He just hoped that Grandmaster had not locked the door behind him. 

* 

The light was on in the basement, Loki could see it from the top of the stairs. As he descended, he told himself that it was ridiculous to be scared when he had already been down here. Of course, back then he had not known about the trapdoor. 

From halfway up the stairs, he could see that the washer and dryer were no longer in place. When he reached the bottom, he found that they had both been pushed across the room to expose the trapdoor. The padlock was undone. The Grandmaster must have left this place in a hurry. 

A hopeful voice from the back of Loki’s mind put in that it could have been left open because it was just an innocuous storage space. Loki wished he could believe such a thing. 

There was no reason for him to go down there. The objective was to hide and he was indeed hidden. If he opened that door, it would be 100% to satisfy his own curiosity. Which would make him an idiot who deserved everything he got. 

The trapdoor creaked as he opened it. He paused, bracing himself for someone to come charging down the stars to confront him. Of course, there was no way that anyone upstairs would have heard that over the noise of the storm. Loki pressed on. More stairs. Then darkness. 

Loki pressed both hands to the nearest wall in search of a light switch. He found nothing but his movements triggered a series of wall lights. Motion activated. The wall he faced was exposed brick, painted red. There to his left were the framed photos that Val had mentioned. 

The first one showed the Grandmaster holding up the arm of someone who was obviously the winner. Said winner sported some fantastic seventies sideburns. The Grandmaster looked exactly the same as he did now. 

The next one was from the late eighties judging by the fashion sense of the crowd. In the middle of them stood a person Loki took to be the Hulk, beefy arms raised in triumph. Shorter than Loki had been expecting but obscenely muscled. He looked like he was one overenthusiastic flex away from exploding. Curious, Loki focused in on the Hulk’s face. There was something familiar about him, but Loki definitely did not remember meeting anyone like the Hulk. He moved on to the third picture. 

The Hulk lay unconscious on the floor. The victor was tall but was half-stooping, as though he were checking on the Hulk. He was smiling but it did not reach his eyes, as though he were only complying with the photographer’s demands. His hair was passed his shoulders, his beard was neatly trimmed. He was also fucking unmistakably Thor. 

_“Our leader told us about this place, said he’d been there before.”_

__There was his husband, looking around thirty-five years old in roughly the year that Loki had been born._ _

__Or – the rational part of Loki’s brain fought to be heard above the rest – Thor had been here as a child with his father. Odin must have been the one to beat the Hulk. Rational Loki had a good point, even if Hysterical Loki was pretty sure that it was bullshit._ _

__For a moment, Loki thought that the whimper he heard had come from himself. Then there was a much louder whimper, very obviously coming from behind him._ _

__Still facing the wall, Loki could easily run back up the stairs and never have to know what had made that noise. Like a damned fool, he turned around._ _

__In the middle of the room was some kind of work bench. Something was lying on top of it covered in a white sheet. The something under the sheet whimpered again. On the way over to it (because he was an idiot) Loki passed something like a surgeon’s trolley. He did his best not to look at the instruments lined up on top of it._ _

__The whimpering got worse as he got closer. The sheet rose and fell rapidly as whoever it was began to hyperventilate. Then it stopped. Completely. Loki stopped inches away. He watched for a moment to see if the breathing started up again. It did not._ _

__He was close enough now to see the places on the sheet where the blood had seeped through. There were various lines of it all around the torso, Loki could not figure out a pattern to it. The worst of it was up where the mouth must be: a gruesome red smile._ _

__Loki stepped back, bumping into the trolley. Several somethings clattered to the floor. When he looked down, his first thought was that they were tiny pebbles. He leant down for a closer look. They were shiny, black teeth._ _

__*_ _

__Back upstairs the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed. After hiding the shovel again, Loki had found Val in one of the booths sitting next to a sleeping Helen._ _

__He dropped his voice so as to not wake her. “I thought Bruce saw someone?”_ _

__Val looked up. “No one else could see anything. Probably just imagined it. Where were you?”_ _

__“Bathroom.” He said too quickly. “Ebony Maw really is gone, isn’t he?”_ _

__She smiled. “Told you you had nothing to worry about.”_ _

__He smiled back and walked away._ _

__She knew. Maybe she was even involved in it. He couldn’t trust her. If he couldn’t trust Val, there was no way he could trust Helen. That left Bruce._ _

__Bruce was at the jukebox. He finished his selection and turned, rubbing his hands. The intro to Hush by Deep Purple kicked in. Bruce punched the air with both hands._ _

__“I love this song!” He declared._ _

__Something fell into place for Loki._ _

__He caught Bruce’s attention and motioned for him to follow him to an out of the way spot. When Bruce reached him, Loki leaned in conspiratorially._ _

__“You were The Hulk, weren’t you?”_ _

__Bruce’s neck jerked back in what Loki assumed was a nervous tic. Then he nodded._ _

__“What was the name of the man who beat you? Was it Odin?” Loki really hoped it was._ _

__“Erm, Odinson, yeah. Thor Odinson. Nice guy, you’d like him.”_ _

__Great. Oh well, he could worry about that another time._ _

__“Val said that people died. Is that why he stopped the fights?”_ _

__Bruce chuckled quietly. “More like the fighting part stopped being interesting.”_ _

__“But not the dying part?”_ _

__Bruce shrugged. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “People check in but they don’t check out.”_ _

__Loki nodded. That was likely all the confirmation he was going to get. The Grandmaster wasn’t just a voyeur, he was a serial killer._ _

__“Where is the Grandmaster now?”_ _

__Loki knew what was coming the second he saw Bruce’s eyes double in size._ _

__The Grandmaster patted Loki affectionately on the back. “Oh, honey, I’m right here.”_ _


	10. Chapter 10

“Children, children, gather round now.”  


The Grandmaster kept one hand firmly on the back of Loki’s neck as they came to stand in front of the jukebox. He was so much stronger the normal, sixty-something man that he appeared to be. Bruce trailed behind them, eyes on the floor.  


Val’s head popped over the top of the booth to see what was going on. Her mouth fell open and she dropped back down. She emerged a moment later, half-dragging Helen.  


Topaz had given up on the television, but she remained behind the bar. She wore her usual expression; it seemed nothing could phase her.  


The Grandmaster tightened his grip on Loki’s neck as he talked. “Everyone: Val, Hel, T, my former champion whose name escapes me, it seems that Loki here has misbehaved. He went down to the basement and found what was left of a very interesting – very stylish in a quirky kinda way – man.”  


Loki tried to turn enough to face him. “I’m not going to the police, I’m not gonna do anything. That man was after me, you’ve done me a favour. Please, all of you, just let me go.”  


He saw Val go to step forward but fall back.  


The Grandmaster made a show of considering what he’d said. “Hmm, that is interesting, your choice of words there. ALL of us,” He turned to address the group. “Because, we’re all in this together, aren’t we? Helen cleaning up, Val getting rid of the bodies, Bruce taking their cars. And Topaz… Topaz, my treasure, what is it that you do again?”  


Topaz was pouring herself a tomato juice. “I run the bloody motel.”  


“That’s right. I don’t know where I’d be without her.”  


They were all complicit. Loki had thought that they knew and turned a blind eye, but they were very much all part of it.  


“It’s not like he’s making it sound.” Val’s eyes were shining. Why it mattered to her what Loki thought of her was anyone’s guess.  


The Grandmaster pulled Loki closer so he could speak right into his ear. “She stole your car, you know. Put poor Carlo – may he rest in peace – in the back and buried him off in the desert somewhere. What possessed her to bring it back to you, I don’t know; she must like you. Not enough to fuck you like she was told to, but she definitely likes you.”  


“Please, GM.” This was Helen, looking barely awake but sounding braver than all of them. “Please don’t kill Loki. Out of respect for Thor’s memory if nothing else.”  


The Grandmaster pursed his lips. He shook Loki from side to side casually, like he was twirling a pen whilst thinking.  


“You see, the thing with that, Helen, is that I don’t in fact have a lot of respect for Thor’s memory. Or for Thor. Big, dumb, hunk of shit marching in here, knocking out my champion. Then he thinks he can send all these waifs and strays to me for protection? Thinks I won’t do anything awful to them because I’m scared of him. Tell you the truth, he’s right about that part, I’m pretty sure he could tear me limb from limb. Except, except that Loki here,” He shook Loki again for emphasis. “Loki is a widow, poor little thing. That means I could do anything to any of you and there’d be no sparkling nature god running in to save you or punish me.”  


Val had an arm in front of Helen. She was slowly moving her whole body in front of her.  


“Grandmaster, what are you saying?”  


“I’m saying that the only thing keeping me from murdering all of you in, frankly, disgusting ways is my impulse control. And we all now how weak that is, don’t we kids?”  


Loki watched Val and Helen’s faces as it dawned on them that they were in just as much danger as he was. He needed to do something, attack the Grandmaster, try to reason with him again, something.  


The wind howled as a huge flash of lightening lit up the windows. In that second, Loki swore he saw someone outside. The thunder was almost immediate, the storm was here.  


The power went out.  


Loki shook himself free and ran in a random direction. He collided with Bruce.  


Somewhere behind them, the Grandmaster clapped.  


“Oh, that was fun timing. Looks like we’re gonna be playing in the dark from now on.”  


Another flash of lightening illuminated the room. The Grandmaster stood with his arms outstretched.  


“What a night! Anyone who isn’t a god or an immortal being should be very scared right now!”  


~  


Loki was not scared. Perhaps he was having a delayed reaction but the only thing he felt as he returned to Asgard was determined.  


The sprinklers must have been connected to the alarm system as they had come on despite the absence of an actual fire. They went off almost as soon as Loki stepped into the building.  


The casino had been trashed. It was, at most, five minutes since Loki had been in there and it had been utterly wrecked. Slot machines had been knocked over, one roulette table had been smashed to pieces. The fire-eater had abandoned his equipment on the stage. The barstool that Hela had chosen was split in two down the middle. There was no trace of Hela, though; where were they both?  


Thunder – or a sound like it. It was coming from underneath. The basement where Loki had been held.  


As Loki passed the stage, he could have sworn he saw a spark from the fire-eater’s baton. He dismissed it easily, the entire building had been soaked by the sprinklers, it wouldn’t be catching fire anytime soon.  


Loki once again found himself in the service elevator trying to think of a plan. This time the stakes were even higher, it was not just his own life on the line but that of his husband.  


He reached the basement.  


As soon as the doors opened, Loki saw Hela. She had removed her jacket; her bare arms were covered in blood. There was no telling whether it was hers or Thor’s. He could not see Thor at all.  


Hela was talking – small change there – her head tilted downwards. Logically, Thor was on the floor. Meaning that he was most likely injured. Keeping his steps as quiet as he could, Loki sped up.  


Thor was indeed on the floor. His hair was black with blood and one eye was swollen shut. Loki thought he saw the other eye upon him, but, if Thor had seen him, he did not let on. Instead, he drew his arm back and threw the axe at Hela.  


She sidestepped it. If she had turned her body to avoid it instead, she would have seen Loki. The axe buried itself in the doorframe just before Loki reached it. Not only had Thor seen him, but he’d supplied Loki with a weapon.  


Hela, of course, was still talking.  


“I’d say that was pathetic, little brother, but that would imply the rest of your attempt was not.”  


Loki took hold of the axe handle and pulled. It jerked but remained imbedded in the wood.  


“You thought I was so easily beaten by the likes of you? You might be nature but I am death: I consume all of nature in the end.”  


The second time that Loki yanked, the axe came free. Now he just needed to figure out the best place to strike.  


Hela lifted one long leg and brought it down on Thor’s stomach. It stayed there, despite Thor’s thrashing and screaming. She ground in her enormous heel.  


“I’ve expected this attempt for three years now, I even anticipated that you’d forge a new weapon. The only thing I did not anticipate, was how feeble both would be.”  


Thor struggled to catch his breath enough to speak. “Not the only thing.”  


She leaned down, putting more of her weight onto the foot in his belly. “What’s that?”  


Thor’s smile showed a mouth full of blood. “It’s not the only thing you didn’t anticipate. There’s one thing no one can truly account for.”  


“Enlighten me.” Her tone was bored.  


“Chaos.”  


Loki swung for her leg.  


The axe went clean through her knee. Loki watched in horror as Hela’s body fell one way while her left calf fell the other.  


She did not even scream – in shock too much for the pain to register, probably. She planted the heels of her hands in the floor to pull herself backwards until she was against the wall. She leaned against it in a sitting position. A dozen emotions crossed her face, chiefly disbelief.  


“You left.” Was all she managed to say.  


As Thor struggled to his feet, Loki came to stand between him and Hela.  


“I’d never leave him. I know we barely know each other, I know we got married on a whim in fucking Vegas but he’s mine now. I love him and I would bring this whole fucking casino down on our heads before I let you hurt him.”  


He threw the axe in her direction. She closed her eyes, looking at peace. The axe hit the wall roughly a foot above her head, exactly where Loki had aimed it.  


“My husband and I are walking out of here now. We’ll tell the emergency services where to find you. It’s more than you deserve.”  


Cracks were beginning to spread from where the axe had hit the wall. There was a low rumbling sound.  


Thor slipped an arm around Loki’s waist. “We need to go now.”  


When they were almost at the elevator the building shook. It lasted for a second or two, not enough to knock them off their feet but enough to stop them in their tracks.  


Loki turned to Thor. “What the hell was that?”  


“I don’t know, I…” Thor suddenly span around. He caught his axe in mid-air.  


Loki looked around him to where Hela had dragged herself to the doorway. Her face screamed murder.  


Thor’s arm shook slightly. It brought Loki’s attention to the axe. He could swear that he saw some kind of electrical charge pass through it. Then Thor tossed it.  


It caught Hela in the chest. She fell, unmoving.  


Thor turned and hurried Loki into the elevator. As they travelled upwards, the building shook again and again.  


Back on the casino level, the doors opened to flames. The room had been soaking wet two minutes ago, now it was being ravaged by fire.  


Loki pulled Thor’s arm over his shoulders to support him, and they ran. They ran through the casino, dodging flames and falling plaster. They ran outside, passed the gathering crowd and the emergency services. They did not stop running until they reached the car.  


Thor opened the back door. “I need to lie down.” He explained before doing so.  


Loki got into the driving seat. He looked through the passenger-side window just in time to see the building collapse.  


Loki leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever else was still to come, at least Hela was gone. He looked over his shoulder to where Thor was resting.  


“Hold on, I’m gonna get you to a doctor.”  


“No!” Thor’s shout caused Loki to jump. “I’m sorry, just… no insurance. There’s a place I go when I need to rest up. Head for the last place in the GPS.”  


Loki hesitated, eyeing the growing red splodge on Thor’s shirt. He knew he should ignore Thor’s peculiar request and get him to a medical professional. At the very least he should ask where they were going. But then he thought about dealing with the police, explaining who he was and his husband’s injuries. He knew it was partly cowardice that made him put his faith in Thor.  


“Okay.” He said and started the car.  


~  


Loki let go of Bruce, figuring he had a better chance on his own. Slowly, he tried to make his way back to the hidden shovel.  


Another flash of lightening; the space where the Grandmaster had been standing was empty.  


Helen cleared her throat. “GM, think this through: you need us.”  


“See, I don’t know if that’s true.” Loki tried to figure out where his voice was coming from. “Topaz and I can manage this place just fine, can’t we T?”  


“Probably be more efficient.”  


“Ha! She’s a pill, isn’t she?” His voice was definitely closer now, but Loki still couldn’t get a handle on where it was coming from. “Do you still have your shock stick, hun?”  


Topaz sighed. “It’s called a taser. And yes.”  


“Be a peach and guard the front doors, will ya? Just in case one of these silly kids thinks they can get out that way.”  


There was a loud smack – Topaz flipping the bar flap for a guess – followed by footsteps.  


Now or never. Loki broke into a run. He made it across the room before the Grandmaster’s hand slapped against his chest.  


“Hey, where ya going?”  


Loki was not proud of the noise that came out of his mouth then.  


“Not up for chatting just now, huh? Well, never mind. Hey, were you looking for this?”  


In the darkness, Loki felt something being pressed into his hand. Long, heavy, wooden – the shovel! He snatched it before the Grandmaster could change his mind.  


“Can’t imagine what you were thinking of doing with that thing but, if you like having it so much…” Something caressed Loki’s face. “I just want us all to have fun.”  


Loki remained frozen in place as the Grandmaster walked away.  


“Ten second head start, Loki, what’cha say? As for the rest of you, I guess you all have until I’m finished with Loki.”  


Loki hesitated. Surely, the old man wasn’t serious?  


“Ten! Nine! Eight!”  


Loki ran.  


Topaz’s silhouette was already at the front doors. Loki couldn’t risk being tazed and losing his head start. His only hope was to go the other way.  


He ran through the door marked ‘Staff Only’.  


*  


Three ways to go: left, right, or into the basement.  


The basement held more things that Loki could potentially use as weapons. It also had the advantage of being the place that he was least likely to go. But he would be down there in the dark with a corpse.  


He went left.  


A plan was beginning to form. He could break through the glass into one of the rooms.  


_And then what? _Came the unhelpful voice in his head.  
__

__Then he would think of the next thing.  
_ _

__He headed for his own room. It was familiar territory and also the furthest away from the main lodge. He needed any tiny advantage he could get; the ten seconds had definitely gone by now.  
_ _

__Just like in Loki’s dream, the water level in his room had risen up to the bed. The door was open, allowing in enough moonlight that he could make out certain shapes in the room. The door also appeared to be barely hanging on – a potential flotation device? Possibly. The first step was to smash the window.  
_ _

__When he tried to raise the shovel, the handle struck the wall behind him. The passageway was not wide enough to hold the shovel horizontally. He tried it diagonally, striking up from the floor. It was not as powerful, but it was the best that he could do.  
_ _

__The first strike made a crack in the glass so tiny that Loki almost gave up. Then he angled the shovel for another attempt.  
_ _

__“Sweetie, if you mess up my motel, I am gonna be so mad.”  
_ _

__Fuck.  
_ _

__Loki turned to look down the corridor. He could not see anything of the Grandmaster until he stepped into the miniscule pool of light coming through the first secret window. He turned back and struck again frantically. He managed a dozen times before he admitted to himself that it was futile; he was barely making a dent.  
_ _

__“Yeah, if you’re gonna build a secret voyeur tunnel with two-way mirrors, you don’t cheap out on the glass.”  
_ _

__Loki thumped his head onto the window just hard enough to instantly regret it. With no other option, Loki turned on the charm.  
_ _

__“I have a proposal.”  
_ _

__The Grandmaster had reached the second window. He stayed there, half in shadow. “I hope it’s an indecent one.”  
_ _

__Loki chuckled to hide his shudder.  
_ _

__“Val told me how she used to bring guys back here for a show. Maybe, once this place is back up and running, we could come to a similar arrangement.”  
_ _

__The Grandmaster came forward a few feet. He slipped into complete darkness. Loki fought the urge to back up.  
_ _

__“Hmm… that’s tempting. But, you don’t really know what you’re offering, do you? Val – sweet little thing that she is – she didn’t question for the longest time why her gentlemen callers were always gone by the time she woke up in the Honeymoon Suite. When she finally did figure it out, she wouldn’t do it anymore – kids today are so ungrateful.”  
_ _

__“I wouldn’t be.” Loki thought his voice was surprisingly steady considering he was promising to lure men to their deaths.  
_ _

__The Grandmaster stepped into the light of the third window. Loki could see his enormous grin.  
_ _

__“Oh, this is fun. You see how far you’ve fallen in such a short time? You were married to a god last week. Now you’re begging to be my puppet.”  
_ _

__That wasn’t entirely fair: he hadn’t begged yet. He swallowed. “Wouldn’t you have fun pulling my strings?”  
_ _

__“Loki, honey, we would both have the time of our lives. But I couldn’t possibly keep you around, look at all you’ve done since you got here: Carlo went off the rails, my girls started playing up and then you went and flooded the place.”  
_ _

__“What? I had nothing to do with…”  
_ _

__“Think about it. Didn’t you bring down Asgard last week? Someone sure did and yours was the face on the news. You even managed to get Thor killed. He may have been a god, but you are something else entirely.”  
_ _

__Loki was utterly lost.  
_ _

__“Look, I’m sorry if this kills the vibe but you do get that I’m talking literally here, right? When I talk about gods and immortals and what-have-you? It’s just that I feel like you’re not getting it.”  
_ _

__Loki was even more lost. “You’re an immortal?”  
_ _

__“You saw a photo of me from 1923 looking exactly as handsome then as I do today.”  
_ _

__“And you’re saying Thor was some kind of god?”  
_ _

__“Did you honestly never even have a clue?”  
_ _

__A series of memories flashed through Loki’s mind: glowing eyes; electrical charges; the photo of Thor in the basement; Hela literally fucking telling him that they were gods. Loki was not about to call himself stupid for not reaching such a bizarre conclusion but, fuck, he really had ignored a lot of crazy shit.  
_ _

__And there was apparently crazier shit to come.  
_ _

__“So, what do you think I am?”  
_ _

__The Grandmaster shrugged. “I can’t quite fathom that. Were you born?”  
_ _

__It disturbed Loki that he understood that question. “They found me in a burning building. No one else in there. They never found my parents.”  
_ _

__The Grandmaster clapped his hands. “How wonderful! You came from the fire. A being of pure chaos.”  
_ _

__He understood that too. Probably better than the Grandmaster did. All the crazy things that had happened in his life, not least how he’d escaped Proxima Midnight. Loki stepped forward into darkness.  
_ _

__“Someone set me on fire once. I didn’t feel a thing.”  
_ _

__“That’s…interesting.” The Grandmaster no longer sounded gleeful.  
_ _

__“So, fire can’t kill me. I don’t actually know if I can die.”  
_ _

__There was a pause. “Big deal. I don’t know if I can die either.”  
_ _

__“Have you ever tried?”  
_ _

__He gave the Grandmaster time to reply. He did not. Loki took another step forward.  
_ _

__“Do you know what I did with this shovel?”  
_ _

__“Well, at a guess, I’d say you buried Thor with it.”  
_ _

__“I also killed him with it.”  
_ _

__The window behind Loki exploded. He carried on walking forwards, striking his shovel against the floor as he went.  
_ _

__The Grandmaster slipped out of view, slowly retreating. “Why would you go and do a thing like that?”  
_ _

__Loki tapped his shovel against the next window. Cracks spread out from the impact like a spider’s web.  
_ _

__“I just get so dreadfully bored sometimes.”  
_ _

__The moment Loki was out of harm’s way, the second window exploded. He saw the Grandmaster flinch. For the first time in his life, he felt powerful.  
_ _

__“I am Loki of the flames, destroyer of Asgard, Thor’s husband, Thor’s killer. Say, if Thor was powerful enough to kill you and I was powerful enough to kill Thor, then logically…”  
_ _

__Loki stood in the darkness inches away from the Grandmaster, close enough to see him even in the dim light.  
_ _

__The rest of the windows exploded. Flood water began to pour in.  
_ _

__Loki raised the shovel.  
_ _

__The first strike knocked the Grandmaster to the ground. The second knocked him unconscious. Loki stopped counting after that.  
_ _

__Loki was screaming. Possibly. It was difficult to tell over the sound of the water and the rain. It certainly felt like he was screaming as he brought the shovel down again and again. He screamed for his husband; for all the years he’d lost to running from Thanos; for all the gruesome deaths he had witnessed.  
_ _

__Most of all, he screamed for a little boy born of fire whom no one would ever claim._ _


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Loki came to his senses, filthy water was once again pooling round his ankles.

He did not have to see the Grandmaster to know that he was a bloody pulp on the floor. Loki considered checking his pulse but decided to leave him be and get to higher ground. Either the Grandmaster was dead, or there was nothing that Loki could do to kill him. Either way, his shoes were wet. 

On the way back along the corridor, he tossed the shovel. He had had enough of the wretched bloody thing. 

~ 

They were heading for the desert, that much was obvious. 

Loki checked the GPS again. They were apparently almost at their destination. Something had to be wrong with it; there wasn’t a single building for miles. 

Loki tried to check on his husband in the rear-view mirror. All he could see was a crumpled-up torso. 

“Thor? Talk to me.” 

There was a groan from the backseat, followed by a mumbled “I’m all right.” 

Loki turned his attention back to the road. 

He spotted something coming up on his right. A sign? A random fencepost? There was a little mound of dirt behind it. A shovel. That meant a grave. This was their destination, it had to be. Well, there was no way Loki was letting that happen. He put his foot down. 

The sudden change in speed roused Thor. He struggled into a sitting position. 

“Stop the car, Loki.” 

Loki’s grip on the wheel tightened. “I’m taking you to a hospital like I should’ve done in the first fucking place.” 

A gentle hand came to rest on his shoulder. “Baby, stop the car.” 

Loki ignored him. He also ignored the following sigh and whatever that clicking noise was. Had Loki been looking, he would have realised that it was the door handle. By the time he had registered that the door was open, Thor had launched himself out. 

He slammed on the brakes. In the mirror he saw Thor roll to a stop. 

Loki’s heart stopped. He held his breath. Thor couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t. 

Slowly but surely, the dusty blond head raised. One arm came forward and then the other as Thor crawled out of the road. 

Loki exhaled. He could deal with a living, dumbass husband much better than a dead one. He turned to look over the seat as he reversed. 

By the time Loki got out of the car, Thor was on his feet. For the most part. He leaned on the shovel, clutching an arm around his middle. If he hadn’t looked so beaten up, Loki would have slapped him. 

“What the fuck was that? Are you trying to die?” 

Thor shook his head. “I need…” He needed to catch his breath. “This is where I need to be, Loki.” 

Loki looked down into the grave. It was not deep, maybe three feet at most, but it was easily long enough to fit a full-grown man. 

“What could you possibly…” It occurred to Loki that he had just witnessed Thor commit a murder. Then they had driven out to the desert to find a readymade grave. It was all so obvious: Thor meant to kill him. 

None of it was real. He had roped Loki into this whole thing because he had needed a getaway driver for when he attacked Hela. But why marry him? So Loki wouldn’t have to testify against him? It might have been part of the plan to sweep Loki off his feet so he’d agree to whatever Thor asked of him. Loki could not believe he had been so easily suckered. 

With a groan, Thor straightened himself up. He stumbled over to the grave and gingerly sat down on the edge. His feet touched the bottom easily. 

Loki gripped the handle of the shovel. With his eyes on Thor at all times, he quietly pulled it free. He took a step closer to his husband, the supposed love of his life. 

“I need you to bury me, Loki.” 

Loki was knocked for six. “What the fuck does that mean?” 

Thor turned, wincing. “I need to be in the earth; she will heal me.” 

Well, the good news was that Loki’s husband was not going to murder him. The bad news was that he was a fucking lunatic. Loki pinched the bridge of his nose so hard it was sure to leave a mark. 

“Thor, my love, you’ve got concussion or whatever; I need to get you to a hospital.” 

Thor stepped down into the grave. He held up his arms almost in the Christ pose. The sun caught his hair just right, giving him the halo he probably thought he had. 

“I know it sounds crazy but it’s the truth. There’s a lot that I haven’t told you.” 

“Tell me on the way to the hospital.” 

Thor smiled. “Look at the state of me, baby.” He lifted his shirt to reveal a blackened wound on his abdomen. Blood seeped from it. “You really think I’d make it to an emergency room?” 

“So, I should bury you here and now to save having to deal with your body later?” 

“Pragmatic, ain’t it? Surprised you didn’t think of it.” 

Loki grinned even as his hand tightened on the shovel. “You’re going to the hospital.” 

“You gonna drag me there? There’s an awful lot of me, baby.” 

How do you get a giant man to do something he does not want to do? You knock him the fuck out first. 

Loki tossed the shovel up to grab it with both hands. He slammed the handle into Thor’s forehead. 

Thor swayed in an almost-comical manner. He took a step backwards, then fell sideways. As he hit the edge of the grave there was a sickening crack. He slid the rest of the way. 

Fuck. Had that been his head or his neck or what? 

Loki dropped the shovel and peered into the grave. Thor’s eyes were wide open. 

“No no no no no no no no no no no!” He dropped into the grave beside his husband. 

Gently, he placed a hand on either side of Thor’s head. His eyes remained open. His chest was not moving. 

He’d killed him. Killed the best thing that had ever happened to him. Because he thought he could knock someone out with a shovel and they’d be completely fine afterwards. What a fucking idiot. 

Loki needed to think quickly; he could cry later. Right now he needed to bury Thor and get out of there before anyone could drive past and see him. 

Pragmatic. Just as Thor had said. 

He lifted Thor’s hand to place a kiss on his knuckles. Then he held the palm against his own cheek. 

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so fucking sorry.” 

Thor’s wedding ring was cool against his skin. Loki slipped it from his finger. Something to remember him by. The pragmatic side of his brain added that it meant they wouldn’t look for a spouse when they found the body. 

Shallow graves did not take long to fill in the grand scheme of things. Loki was back in the car before he knew it. 

As he drove off he stared straight ahead. If he looked back at Thor’s grave, something terrible would happen. He pressed on. 

He was proud of how long he lasted before he had to pull over to be violently sick. 

~ 

Back in the main lodge, Loki found that he could actually see. Someone had managed to light all of the fires. 

Topaz was no longer guarding the front door. Loki found her unconscious in a booth. The rest of the room appeared empty. At least the other three had managed to escape. 

Loki approached the nearest fire. According to the Grandmaster, he was basically staring at his own mother. He placed his hand in the flames. Nothing happened. No pain, the skin did not turn black. He could burn this whole place to the ground with himself inside. Either he’d survive and walk away, or he wouldn’t. 

Someone grabbed his bicep and yanked him back. 

Val peered up at him, horrified. Loki supposed that was a valid reaction. 

“Are you okay? Where’s GM?” She lifted his hand to examine it. Her brow furrowed when she saw that it was fine. 

Loki turned his head and saw that Bruce and Helen had also emerged from their hiding places. He was not sure if their worried looks were due to seeing him try to set himself on fire or if they were all still just worrying about being horribly murdered. 

“I think I killed him. If I didn’t, then the flood water will most likely get him. What happened to Topaz?” 

Bruce thrust his hand in the air like an excited child. “I hit her with a chair. I’m in charge of the taser now.” He waved it for Loki to see. 

“So, it’s over?” Helen spoke up. “We can just wait out the storm and figure out what to do in the morning?” 

Loki shrugged. He certainly hoped that was the case. Val squeezed his wrist to bring his attention back to her. 

“I’m sorry about everything. I’ve just… since I realised that Thor wasn’t coming for us, I’ve spent years in a haze. As soon as I figured out that GM was killing all the guys I brought here, I put a stop to it. But he still killed anyone he laid his hands on and I did nothing. Except help with the clear up. The SideKar seemed the best place to drink and forget and to die one day.” 

“Valkyrie!” Helen snapped. 

Val shrugged. “That’s how it is.” 

Helen gave Val one last disapproving look before turning to Loki. “I never gave up on Thor; I was convinced that I needed to stay here no matter what. I turned a blind eye to so much because nothing else mattered except waiting for Thor.” 

Bruce was fidgeting with the taser so much he was probably going to shock himself. “That man destroyed my life twice over. So, I took all the cars he sent me and didn’t ask questions; he owed me.” 

Loki wasn’t quite sure why they all felt the need to confess to him. Perhaps they’d been waiting for an outsider as an excuse to stop living their lives this way. Now they wanted absolution. 

“You don’t need to explain yourselves to me. I’ve certainly done enough bad shit in the past. My survival instinct is pretty fucking ruthless when it needs to be.” 

As he was speaking, an eerie light filled the room. Whatever it was, it was coming from outside. 

The four of them just stared at each other for a moment. No one wanted to be the one to go and find out what awful thing was going to happen next. Finally, Bruce turned and made for the window. He was there for an agonisingly long time before he said anything. 

“Erm… it’s lightning maybe?” 

That got the rest of them over there pretty quickly. 

Next to the Hotel SiKar sign, floating several feet above the water, was an enormous sphere that did indeed appear to be made of lightning. It just hovered there. 

“Ball lightning.” Helen offered. “It’s rare. It’s even rarer for someone to capture it on film. I need to find my phone.” She ducked away, frantically going through her pockets. Val followed. 

“You better not be thinking of going outside in this!” 

Loki and Bruce stayed pressed to the window, fascinated. Then Helen screamed. 

Loki whipped round to see the Grandmaster stumbling into the room. His face was a bloody mess, one of his arms was bent at an awkward angle but he was very much alive. 

Val dragged the frozen Helen away from him then got in front of her. Bruce started messing with the taser. 

Loki placed a hand on his arm. “That won’t do you any good.” 

Bruce stopped trying to work it but still held it out in front of him. 

Loki sighed and stepped forward. 

“GM! I’m so glad you’re feeling better!” 

The Grandmaster’s laugh made an awful sound, like there was fluid pooling in his throat. 

“That was a decent try, Loki, ten out of ten for effort. Yet, here I am! And now everyone gets to watch while I peel your skin off.” 

Loki’s eyes darted round as he performed a quick assessment. A weakened immortal; three very mortal humans; whatever the fuck he was; no weapons unless he resorted to Bruce’s taser. Or the fire. 

“Everyone out on the porch!” 

Instead of waiting to see if they complied, Loki went right ahead and pulled two logs out of the nearest fire. 

He heard someone curse behind him (Val, he guessed) and then three sets of footsteps sprinting to the door. 

Loki stood before the Grandmaster, a blazing log in each hand. A gust of wind from the open door sent his hair flying everywhere. 

Out on the porch, someone yelped. This was followed by Val shouting “What the fuck?!” and then a crack of lightning. 

Loki kept his eyes on the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster leaned to the side to peer around Loki. The fiend’s mouth dropped open and his eyebrows went all the way up to his hairline. 

Loki hoped it was not a trick. He turned around. 

The ball lightning was moving forward. It shot out two tendrils either side into the two end rooms. It appeared to bounce all around and then explode, obliterating both rooms. When it did the same thing to the next pair of rooms, it was obvious that it was making its way towards them. 

The three fragile humans ran inside and slammed the door shut. 

Loki took advantage of the distraction. He turned and slammed the end of one log into the Grandmaster’s head. He fell to the floor clutching his face. 

Loki replaced the logs and then ran over to the bar where the others had taken shelter. He had just crouched down next to Bruce when the front door exploded. 

He had to peek, he just couldn’t help himself. He ignored Val making a grab for him and stuck his head over the bar. 

The giant orb throbbed in the middle of the reception. In and out as though it were breathing. 

The Grandmaster struggled to his feet and then held up his hands. “Listen, I know this doesn’t look fantastic but it was all a bit of fun really.” 

The orb flared, turning a deep shade of red. Loki stood for a better look. 

The Grandmaster tilted his head, as though listening. “Well, you would say that.” 

The orb flared again. The Grandmaster sighed and turned to face Loki. 

“You know - and I do not mean this as a compliment - you two might just be made for each other.” He said. Then the orb engulfed him. 

From inside the ball of light came a hideous scream. Loki saw the Grandmaster’s skeleton inside his body like in an old cartoon. Then he was gone. The orb got smaller and smaller until it began to resemble a familiar form. 

Loki ran out from behind the bar. He stopped a few short feet from the figure. 

“Thor?” 

He was alive. All the injuries he'd been buried with were gone: his eye was back to normal; his tattered shirt was open, revealing that the blackened wound from Hela had faded to nothing. Little sparks of lightning ran over his body in short bursts. He truly was a god. A potentially vengeful one. 

When Thor turned to face him, his eyes were the colour of lightning. When he took a step towards him, Loki took several back. 

“Are you here to kill me?” 

Thor smiled, then stormed towards him. Loki backed up until his spine hit the edge of the bar. Thor pinned him there with his huge bulk of a body. His hand came up to cup Loki’s neck. 

“Baby.” 

Then Thor was kissing him. Loki kissed back frantically, grinding hips against Thor’s. He felt a tingle as lightning fizzed all over Thor’s body. Thor moved to kiss his jaw and then the other side of his neck. He stopped suddenly, resting his chin on Loki’s shoulder. 

“Er…hey guys.” 

Fuck, of course, other people existed. 

Loki pushed Thor back just far enough that he could turn around. He couldn’t help but grin as he felt his husband mould himself to his back. 

It was a close call as to who looked the most shocked out of Bruce, Val and Helen. Val unleashed another “What the fuck?!” That was gonna become her catchphrase if she wasn’t careful. 

“So,” Thor began. “I’m somewhat of a god. Nature’s my thing: the Earth; the weather; fertility.” 

Loki thumped his head back against Thor’s shoulder. “That’s why the Earth heals you.” He twisted to wrap his arms around Thor’s neck. “I’m so sorry I thought you were crazy; I’ll never doubt you again.” 

Thor’s eyes had returned to their usual, beautiful blue. “That’s doubtful. But it’s a nice enough thing to hear.” 

Loki forgot that anyone else existed again until they all came out from behind the bar. 

Helen’s face was enough to sour the mood. “Why didn’t you come for us?” 

Thor finally looked away from his husband. “I’m sorry, Helen. I needed to heal and then I had to forge a weapon to defeat Hela. Then I did enough basic repairs to the ranch that it wouldn’t fall down while I was away. By then, months had passed and I didn’t think you’d still be here.” 

A tear rolled down Helen’s cheek. “Well, we were! With a madman who slaughtered people for fun, who tried to kill us as soon as he found out you were dead. Do you have any idea of the things I’ve seen? What I’ve done?” 

Thor turned from Loki to cradle Helen’s face in his hands. “I know, and I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t. I can only try to make it up to you.” 

Helen shook him off. She turned and collapsed into Val’s arms. 

Thor stepped back to address them all. “When we get out of here, I want to take you all back to the ranch. It still needs some fixing up, but we’ll have it sorted in no time. Then we can make a nice little life there.” 

Helen had calmed down and had turned to face him. Val’s arms were still around her. She shrugged. It was Val who actually answered. 

“I don’t know, Thor. I think maybe we should make our own way in the world from now on.” 

Thor’s face fell. “You’ll stay with me for a while, at least? Until you’ve sorted something else out?” 

Val turned to Helen. “How does that sound to you?” 

Helen wiped her eye with the heel of her hand. “I think it’s a good idea.” 

Val nodded to Thor. Then she led Helen away to sit down. 

Thor turned to Bruce. “You’re invited too, of course.” 

Bruce’s hands were clasped together. He rubbed his thumb into his palm. “I’m grateful, Thor, but my life is here. I’ll visit, if that all right with you?” 

Thor smiled. “Of course.” 

Bruce’s head shot up. “Oh, what are we gonna do about Topaz? She could wake up any minute.” 

“I’ve been awake for ages.” She called from her booth. “Someone get me a drink.” 

Bruce shuffled off muttering about making drinks for everyone. 

Loki and Thor were left relatively alone. 

Loki rubbed his husband’s bicep. “Hey, give them time. This is a lot to have sprung on them.” 

“No, no, they’re right. I’ve been gone from their lives for too long. I’ll make sure they know they always have a place to go when they need it, though.” 

Loki smiled. “That’s sweet. Hey, this is interesting: apparently I’m a being of chaos and fire is my mom. Something to that effect, anyway.” 

The sheepish look that Thor gave him told him that he already knew. 

“How?” 

“You crashed through my door and everything went nuts. Then you burned down my hotel without even realising that you were doing it.” 

“So, what does this mean for me? Fire can’t kill me; can I die at all? I seem to have some kind of power, but I have zero grasp on it. What the fuck am I, exactly?” 

Thor held up his hands. “I’m sorry, baby, I don’t have any answers. I’ve never come across anything like you before, and I have been on the Earth for a very long time.” 

Loki threw his head back and huffed. “Great.” 

Thor took hold of his arms. “But, listen, we are gonna have a long time together to figure all of this out. I’m yours for ever, you hear me?” 

Loki buried his head in Thor’s chest to hide his gushing face. Thor's skin was so warm, Loki could feel his heart beating against his cheek; he was so very _alive _. Loki was jostled when Thor gave a hearty laugh. He realised he'd said that last part aloud.__

__“Now, Loki, I believe you have something that belongs to me.”_ _

__Loki stood back, utterly confused._ _

__Thor held up his left hand. Loki looked down to where the other wedding ring was still on his thumb. He slipped it off, then took Thor by the wrist in order to slide the ring back into its rightful place._ _

__“I do.” They both said it at the same time. A full minute of giggling followed._ _

__Then Loki took his husband’s face in his hands. He kissed him, claiming him as his own._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to everyone who left comments/kudos! Hope you're all satisfied with the ending. 
> 
> Any questions, feel free to ask. 
> 
> I also have a tip jar now -   
> https://ko-fi.com/kas237

**Author's Note:**

> If you're worried about Thor being dead, he is still very much a part of this story.


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